Unpredictable
by StrawberryXThief
Summary: Higurashi Kagome has lost her family. Now she has to move places and live with the relatives she didn't know she had. Although, fate comes in and twists the story, now she lives in all her lonesome because of an overprotective.. older brother? xover InuFB
1. Moving

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits basket or Inuyasha, however I do own any made up future characters and this plot_**

**_Title: Unpredictable_**

**_Summary: _**___Higurashi Kagome has lost her family. Now she has to move places and live with the relatives she didn't know she had. Although, fate comes in and twists the story, now she lives in all her lonesome because of an overprotective... brother?_**  
**

* * *

**Chapter one: Moving**

Kagome sighed as she sat on a small hill overlooking a small village, hugging her knees to her chest. She buried her head in her knees, her face not in her usual natural smile; instead, she tried in vain to stop the tears that threatened to fall. She could no longer hold it as tears came down restlessly as if there was no tomorrow.

Soft footsteps padded to her as she swivelled around to look at the intruder, tears still evident in her eyes as she roughly wiped them away when she saw whom it was. She looked back over the village, hair billowing in the wind. Her heart was set in a rapid pace, but she could not help it. It had happened so suddenly that she didn't know what to think. Her mind was a mess, her heart ached.

"Kagome," the voice was soft, different from its usual brashness, "Kagome, what's wrong? You've been acting different ever since you came back."

She looked back at him, tear-stricken brown meeting determined amber. "I…" her lips trembled and she looked away, bangs covering her eyes, but tears were still evident as it ran down her face again, "I don't know when I'll… I'll see you guys again."

"What?" The male asked not understanding.

A hiccup escaped her as she tried to stop the tears, her lips still trembling. "Inuyasha," she said, "M-mum, Grandpa," she hiccupped as she tried in a futile attempt to stop her tears, "S-Souta, they're all dead!" she yelled out, her body shaking.

Inuyasha stared at her in shock, his mind not really processing the message. "Wh-what? How?" he said, the only words that were able to form.

"I don't know," she said weakly as she hugged herself from the invisible cold that seemed to capture her, "It's just, after defeating Naraku and I returned home…They were gone, blood all over the place." Her bangs recovered her eyes as she kept her arms around herself as she unconsciously shivered. "I admit I've seen horrible things since coming here, but when I returned home, that was by far the worst…"

"Kagome…" Inuyasha said not knowing what else to say. He was about to reach up to her and give her a comforting hug when she stood up abruptly. He was shocked by what he saw.

She stood, looking at him with a serious look, the wind blowing her hair as she stared at him. "I will be moving to my only relative left living. She doesn't live anywhere near the well, but, Inuyasha, I will promise to visit in the times I can." Then she gave him a safe, hesitant smile, "But 'til that time comes, I have to say farewell to you, Miroku, Sango and Shippou. You four have always been there and I thank you."

Without anymore words said she gave him a big great hug, tears running down her face, knowing it was most probably might be the last time they got to see each other… But it was only a possibility and life was never predictable…

-U-

Kagome sat in the shinkansen going, as predicted with one riding in a bullet train, smoothly. She looked out the window, buildings passing by. She sighed and rested her head so she could sleep. She was different to how she used to look. Oh, she had brown eyes like before and black hair, but now youkai blood ran through her veins. It wasn't her fault either.

- Flashback -

_It was the last face off between her and Naraku. How did she know this? Oh, she had a feeling that this would be her last encounter ever against the vermin called Naraku. A barrier had surrounded her and Naraku, blocking out any other person or demon from interfering with their fight. She could see in her peripheral vision that Inuyasha and the others had finished their fights, along side with Sesshoumaru. She could see her friends yelling, trying and failing to break the barrier._

_She glared at Naraku, who, in turn, chuckled evilly. "Looks like it's just you and me," he said tentacles zooming in to get her._

_Just in time she jumped out of the way, rolling on the ground as she brought an arrow to her bow and pointed at Naraku. "Naraku!" She yelled, letting go of her arrow, pure energy surrounding the arrow, "You should die!"_

_The arrow hit some of the tentacles, dispersing with a good part of Naraku. She smirked in triumph, but it soon faltered as soon as she heard his evil chuckle. "You need to do more than that miko to be able to kill me."_

_Soon, it was more of a battle of wits as the two fought with each other, and Kagome was, slowly, but surely losing her arrows and the battle. Suddenly an idea came to her head and she grimaced. She didn't fail to hear the cry of her friends as a tentacle went through her stomach. Using the last of her strength she brought all her miko powers to her hand and proceeded to put her energy to purify the demon._

_Naraku's eyes widened in realisation what she was doing. With a dribble of blood coming out from the corner of her mouth, she looked at Naraku's with defiant eyes. "Die Naraku!" she yelled as she used the last of her powers, making Naraku and the barrier disappear._

_She smiled, but fell to the ground, weak in strength and energy. "Kagome!" she faintly heard Inuyasha's voice call out. Warm hands surrounded her, but she felt cold. She gave them all a soft smile. She could see Sesshoumaru holding out Tenseiga and slicing at her to save her life, but it seemed futile as it didn't seem to work against the demon-like sword._

_Sesshoumaru stared in horror, as his sword did not work. He guessed it had to be the youkai and miko energies clashing together that it did not let him heal her._

"_Inuyasha," Kagome's voice was all ears as they tried in vain to save her from impending death. She smiled softly, "Guys," she shakily held out a hand as she dropped something out into Inuyasha's hand, "Please, take the jewel and take any wish you want. You could bring back Kikyou if you wanted to Inuyasha."_

_Sesshoumaru glared at his brother if he even considered bringing back the dead priestess, but Inuyasha just shook his head. "No, Kagome, hang in there! Sesshoumaru! Why isn't your sword working!" He asked in panic as he saw her soft smile and her eyes beginning to close._

"_Kagome!" Miroku said, trying to keep her awake, "Stay in there."_

"_C'mon Kagome," Sango said, tears visible in her eyes, "Don't do this to us," she said, "C'mon, stay awake!"_

"_Yeah okaachan," Shippou said hoping to dear God she'll make it. After all she was like a mother to him, "We'll make sure you live!"_

_Kirara seemed to be saying at same thing as it yipped and nudged her with its nuzzle._

_Kagome just smiled and shook her head, unable to speak as energy started to drain from her body. Suddenly it clicked to Inuyasha and wished upon the jewel, hoping this would work, 'Please jewel, I wish for Kagome to live.'_

'_Will you be happy if she were any different than before? Would you wish her to live under any circumstances?' a feminine voice filled his head, 'Is this what you truly desire?'_

'_Yes, damn it! Just save her life!'_

'_Very well.'_

_Suddenly a bright light surrounded the almost dead miko. Inuyasha watched with hope as the light soon stopped. The others looked at Kagome with dread, but soon was placed with happy smiles as they saw that Kagome was awake and sitting perfectly fine, if it were not for the tears and rips in her shirt one would say she was never at war, and the only other evidence was the scar that ran down her left arm from Naraku's earlier attacks._

_But, she looked different and the group realised she looked different. Markings of a real demon adorned her body of one of the inuyoukai and her nails seemed to be sharper. Fangs protruding from the corners of her mouth, her eyes a fiery amber and her hair still ebony. She looked at them shocked._

- End -

Kagome sighed as she remembered the training she had gone through to hide her identity and energy and to look completely like her old self. During that time though, the murder of her family happened. It was lowly demons that she vanquished out of anger, but her family could not defend themselves. They did not have the necessary equipment to destroy the demons. A stray tear made itself known and she wiped the tear away roughly. It was no time for that. She was going to meet her 2nd distant cousin, aunts and uncles she never knew about.

Soon enough, the shinkansen stopped at her stop and she got off, her luggage dragging behind her. She sighed as she remembered the address was written on a piece of paper. She took it out of her pocket as soon as she was out of the station and looked at the address.

Her nose twitched as a familiar scent made its way to her nose. Her smile grew. He was still alive after all this time… but what was he doing here? She followed the scent towards a limo and she blinked as the silver haired _man_ looked at her with a stoic expression.

Although, unlike before, he now looked about 24 years old, rather than 19, even though she knew he was well over probably over 700 years old.

"Sesshoumaru-nii!" she said, her eyes lighting up at said surrogate older brother. He looked at her, the smallest of smiles going into place. "What are you doing here? And how have you been?"

He nodded to her. "I've been fine Kagome-chan," he said in a soft voice at his surrogate little sister, "Come in," he said opening the door of the limo to get in.

She blinked, before smiling and got in, but not before putting in her suitcase first. Sesshoumaru got in after her and closed the door and motioned the driver to drive. "Kagome," he solemnly, "I heard what happened and heard you were coming here to live with a relative?"

She nodded and smiled sadly. "I don't know these people though. I've never met them."

He nodded. "I figured as much, so I already bought a small house here," he said and she looked at him surprised. He continued on, "I managed to convince the authorities to let you live there, also, I could keep an eye on you and come visit when I'm not busy."

"You shouldn't have," she said in shock. "I would've been fine, really."

He shook his head, being the protective brother he was to her. He wanted her to be where he could see her. "I haven't seen you in 500 years and I intend to keep you where I can keep an eye on you." He said as the limo turned left, "Besides, I already bought a house here and it's rarely used. It would be great if you took my offer."

She smiled gratefully at Sesshoumaru. "Thank you, but I have to tell that to the family then."

Sesshoumaru nodded; glad she took the offer, but not visibly showing it, his usual stoic expression in place. "We're here," he announced as she looked out the window and her eyes widened.

"A _small_ house," she said incredulously, "It's not small at all Sesshou-nii!" In front of her as the door opened she looked at a house before her. Maids opened the door and were busy working about. She could tell by their energies that they were demons. The front had a small fountain; flowers and other rare plants grew into a beautiful garden before here. The red-bricked house had large windows outlined with brown wood and the curtains were in a blood red colour. It was only one floor, but she could see the house was still large by diameter.

"Good, I see you like it," he said as the maids bowed before him, "Take care of her, she is now the mistress of this house." He looked at Kagome, "I have to go now," he rolled his eyes, "There is a meeting that was scheduled today for me and could not be altered. I'll visit you in the weekend. Your new uniform for your new school is in your room. The maids will show you to the room." He nodded and as he was going to go back inside the limo he remembered something, "Oh, and your have directions to your new school there as well." And with that he went back inside the limo and she waved him bye as he left her to the house.

She sighed and smiled, following the maids inside as they led her to her room.

-U-

Kagome double-checked the address in her hands before sucking her breath and knocking on the door. The door opened revealing a man appearing to be around 25 years old. She smiled sweetly at him, not like the aura emitting from him.

"Hm," he said straightening up his glasses, "I believe you must be Higurashi Kagome?"

Kagome nodded. "Yes, but I have something to discuss."

He nodded, noticing she did not have her luggage with her as he led her inside. He had her seated at the table; someone around her age throwing dirty looks. She shifted in her place, but smiled at the old man there, assuming that this was her grandpa from this place.

"Welcome," said the old man with a kind smile, "This is the Honda family, and we're your distant relatives. We would enjoy your company from this day on."

Kagome nodded in acknowledgement, but could help but shift in her seat. "Yes," she said, "Uhm, about that Ojii-san. I'm afraid my friend has bought a house for me to live in not too far from here." She put a piece of paper in front of her onto the small coffee table, "He kept insisting that I live there since he did buy the house and needs to be in use since no one uses it. Here is my address should you feel the need to visit me. It would be great to know I have family around."

He smiled and nodded as the others just watched with a hint of distaste when looking at her. "That is fine. My granddaughter did that as well. She's around your age." He got up, walking to grab a scrap piece of paper and pen and began writing something down. "This is your other cousin, Honda Tohru. I think she'll be happy to meet you."

Kagome smiled. "Why thank you. I may visit her later since I have plenty time to spare, but for now, I have to unpack my stuff." She bowed, "It was a pleasure meeting you." With that short visit, she hurriedly got out the house, not liking this part of the family so far except for the grandpa. He was the only one that seemed nice.

She sighed and pocketed her hands wondering where to walk now. She had already unpacked her stuff… well the maids did. They didn't let her put away her own stuff. They believed that Sesshoumaru would hunt them down if they did.

She looked down at the address in her hands deciding whether or not to visit this cousin of hers. After all, she disliked the people so far aside from the old man. What would make this one any different? …Well, she did move out of the house. She sighed knowing that she indeed wanted to meet this cousin of hers. After all, they were the only family left, even if they did not seem to have some kind of good in them.

She walked, trees being more evident as time passed by and blinked as she accidentally stepped in a garden, damaging one of the plants. She bent down hastily and looked at the strawberries she damaged. "Oh I'm sorry!" Kagome exclaimed. "Here, I'll heal you." She said using her miko powers to help it regrow to what it was before.

As she finished she heard footsteps make its way over to where she was. She stood up and looked at the two people before her. Kagome bowed. "Sorry for intruding," she said, teal eyes meeting her brown ones, "I was on my way over to a house near here and I seemed to have gotten myself lost." She said sheepishly to the two of them, who were shocked that someone was here.

Kagome made a small frown, but it went unnoticed. Kagome felt something in the grey-haired teen before her. Even though he felt human, she also felt a rat-demon inside of him, one that lay dormant unless something triggered it. _What_ triggered it? She had no idea. Now that she felt it. She observed them more.

There was a male and female standing before her. One she felt the demon inside. He had grey hair and, oddly, purple eyes. Looking at him, he looked more feminine than he did male, a very pretty male at that though. He wore a white short-sleeved shirt and black pants with gardening tools in his hands.

Kagome's eyes took in the girl beside the boy, who was clearly just human, but had an innocent aura about her. Her eyes were a teal colour and her hair was light brown. She wore a light summer dress and she looked at Kagome curiously.

"It's okay," the boy said and Kagome couldn't help but think that his voice sounded almost feminine as well, "Tell me where you're headed and I'll give you some directions."

Kagome smiled and nodded in appreciation. For someone possessed by some sort of a demon, he had very polite manners. "Thank you. I'm looking for a girl named Honda Tohru," she said, not yet noticing their shocked expression, "I'm sure she doesn't live too far from here, but I'm not too sure." She looked at them and blinked at their shocked expression. She figured that either the girl here was Tohru or they knew the girl named Tohru.

"May I ask," Yuki said, the girl still not speaking from his side, "Why are you looking for Honda-san?"

Kagome smiled, "So you do know her," she said, "Oh, I'm a distant relative of hers. Her grandpa told me that she lived somewhere around here and I wanted to see what she was like. After all, she is one of the blood family that I have left with me." She smile turned out forced as she said that and memories of how she found her family came back to her.

The girl beside the boy lit up as she smiled at Kagome. "Oh, I'm Tohru," she said bowing enthusiastically, "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

-U-

Kagome stared at the three men before her, feeling that each had some kind of animal demon in them. She looked at the person with orange hair. This boy had a cat-demon, but there was also something more ferocious.

"Konnichiwa," Kagome said, bowing to them, "I'm Higurashi Kagome. I'm quite surprised that my cousin is actually living with a bunch of guys and her grandfather allowed it." She broke into a smile; "You must be really nice people then."

"It's nice to see that my flower has a beautiful cousin," the dog piped up between them in a singsong voice and she could just _feel_ the dark aura surrounding the two teens as the man said that.

Kagome laughed nervously. "Well, uhm, thank you," she said, "But I'd advise that you never say that around any of my… uhm… friends if you were to ever meet them because they're a bit over protective."

"Anyway," Tohru said, "It's the first time I've met you I think. If we're family, why is that?"

Kagome thought. "Hm," she said thinking, "Oh, we might have met on one or two occasions where the whole family got together, but I think its because we lived so far away from each other we didn't have enough expenses to visit daily… and plus I was always sick…"

"Oh…"

"Well," she said writing down her address, "Here, it would be very lonely, seeing as I now live all in my lonesome," she said with a small smile, "It would be great if you guys visited. You can bring friends along too if you wanted."

Tohru nodded with a bright smile, "Sure! We'll visit tomorrow…" then she blinked and flushed in embarrassment and looked at the guys, "That is if it's alright."

They nodded, earning a big smile from the bright girl. Kagome smiled also. This one was the one she liked so far from her blood relatives. "Tomorrow after school though," Kagome said and looked at the guys, "I realised I do not know your names yet," she said, and she bowed to them, "My name, as you probably know, is Higurashi Kagome, but just call me Kagome." She said grinning and waited for them to introduce themselves.

"Oh, sorry for my impoliteness," The grey-haired teen had said, "I'm Sohma Yuki."

"Hn, Sohma Kyou," the boy with orange hair and cat-demon within him. To Kagome, he seemed aggravated about something… She glanced at Yuki… Perhaps it was a cat and mouse thing.

"Oh, and I am the handsome owner of the house," the dog said cheerfully, "Sohma Shigure!" Kagome blinked at his… _enthusiasm_. The dogs she had met so far were either brash or stoic. And this came from two demon half brothers.

She smiled. This was certainly going to be interesting. "It's a pleasure to meet you all."

* * *

_To be continued..._


	2. Visits

**_Disclaimer:_ Back in chapter one**

**_Title:_ Unpredictable**

**_Key words_**

**-Ohayou: Good morning  
-Minnasan: Everyone  
-Anou/Etto: Umm  
-Baka: Stupid/Idiot/Fool  
-Neko: Cat  
**

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**Chapter Two: Visits  
**

Kagome groaned as the alarm clock blared at her ear as she tried to block out the sound. She wanted to sleep in damn it! She heard her door open and groggily looked at the person that decided to intrude. She shook her head and sighed. It was one of her maids that decided to make sure Kagome got up for her first day at school.

She groaned into her pillow as the curtains opened and light streamed into the room. "Kagome-sama," the human looking demon said in a kind voice, "It's time to get up. Sesshoumaru-sama doesn't want you to be late for your first day at the new school."

She mentally sighed. So, he was to blame for her suffering to waking up at the moment. She threw the blankets off her and swung her legs over the edge of the bed as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "I'll be ready soon," she said, half-yawning as the maid bowed and left the room. She groggily looked at the unfamiliar surroundings of the room. She would have to get used to this. After all, this was her new home.

She sighed sadly, she missed her mum, grandpa and Souta. She looked at the mirror on the other side of the room. It upset her. Her family was so caring and sometimes even stupid, but they were her family. Her home when she came from the feudal era. She shook her head from depressing thoughts. She was sure her family wouldn't want to see her sad, especially Sesshoumaru, whom she now considered as her big brother.

She showered and changed into her new uniform. She looked down at the unfamiliar blue uniform on her. She had gotten used to the green uniform all the time too. She smiled sadly, wondering if Inuyasha was still alive in the era like his brother. After all her was half demon, but also half human, so it wasn't certain to her if he was still alive now… She'd have to ask Sesshoumaru later. And during the school holidays that wouldn't be coming any time soon, she'll visit the feudal era… or she could just take a week off school.

She was now sitting in the dining room, eating ever so slowly. She glanced at the clock. School would start soon. She was excited, but at the same time dreaded it. What if people didn't like her? What if they thought her strange? Oh well, what could she do? She shrugged off the foreboding feeling and got up, grabbing her bag on the way as the maids wished her a safe trip. Yesterday it had almost taken all evening to convince them that she did _not _need to ride the limo to school. The last thing she wanted was people thinking of her as a rich snob.

She continued to walk her way to school when she accidentally bumped into a boy with white and black hair. She raised an eyebrow and then sensed a cow-demon in him. She blinked. That would explain the hair… He also had a dazed look in his face, seeming like he was in a dreamy state. He mumbled a 'sorry' as he continued to walk the way she came. She stared at his back.

Suddenly she sensed a rabbit-demon and same time human as a yellow blur passed her. "Haru, Haru! You're going the wrong way!" a bright hyper voice made itself known to her ears. She blinked when she saw a small kid with bright blonde hair, cute figure and big brown eyes. She looked at them both carefully and realised that they went to the same school as her.

"Anou," Both boys looked at her and she smiled lightly, "Do you happen to know where Kaibara high school is?" She asked, figuring out if they were related to the Sohma's she had met yesterday and even though she practically memorised the directions given to her from Sesshoumaru, she still asked.

The blonde haired boy practically beamed at her, while the cow looked dazed as ever. She blinked at the little boy's hyper activeness. "Yes!" she said cheerfully, "Haru-kun is just a little lost! But Momiji knows the way!" She said bouncing off as she followed him with a small smile. "Oh, oh," he said looking back to her, "What's your name? I'm Sohma Momiji and this is my cousin Sohma Hatsuharu! But just call me Momiji and call Haru, Haru."

She chuckled at his enthusiasm, wondering if these people possessed with the animal demons, very weak demons at that, were all this nice. Kyou, Yuki and Shigure were all nice people. Even if Shigure seemed a bit perverted and Kyou emitted sparks of anger towards the rat, Yuki. Yuki just seemed… calm. Momiji was just… overly cheerful and Haru, he just seemed half there…

"I'm Higurashi Kagome," she said smiling, "I'm new to this school. It would be nice if you just call me Kagome."

Momiji just nodded enthusiastically as he explained about stuff, not really caring if she was listening or not. She just chuckled. Haru… well, he was just following behind like a lost cow, speaking few words here and there. She had to admit, for one who seemed half there, there seemed to be a lot of knowledge he held within the mind, even if he did talk only a little.

"We're here!" Momiji announced as he ran ahead. She smiled as he turned back to look at her, "Na, you need to go to the office right? Let me show you the way! C'mon Haru, before you get lost again!"

She grinned, forgetting all her problems for now and followed the hyperactive blonde.

-U-

"Ah, you must be the new student," the teacher said kindly to her knowing the reason she moved. "I'm your teacher Takumi Sensei," he introduced himself outside the classroom. "You're Higurashi-san, right?"

She nodded and smiled at the kind teacher trying to make her feel welcome. "Yeah, I'm Higurashi Kagome. Please call me Kagome. Higurashi-san would just make me feel old," she said glancing a look at the sign above the door. She was in class 3-A.

He chuckled. "Alright, Kagome-san," he said, green eyes sparkling with amusement, "Anyway, welcome to Kaibara high. If you need any help, just ask me, other than that, I think you'll fit in just fine."

She smiled at nodded to the teacher as he went inside and spoke to the class. Hearing him announce her arrival, she went in and bowed to the class. "Ohayou minnasan," she said with a light voice, "My name is Higurashi Kagome. Just calling me Kagome is fine. I hope we all become friends."

She looked around for an empty seat and sat next to a boy with brown hair, looking out the window lazily. Odd. She didn't feel anything from him. He didn't feel demonic or human. It was like the person was hiding his energy very good to be not detected for what he was. In her mind she narrowed her eyes at him. This was certainly interesting…

He looked at her, his green eyes boring into her brown eyes before he gave her a smile and pointed to the teacher indicating that she should be listening. She blushed at being caught before watching the teacher explain something about history. She mentally sighed, before laying her head on the table and subconsciously closed her eyes and dozed off.

_Kagome waved happily to her family in the feudal era. They weren't simply just friends anymore. They were her family. Just like the ones at the shrine. "I'll be back as soon as I can! And I promise I'll bring lots more food!" she said cheerily knowing that the team loved the food she brought back from the future._

_"See you Kagome!" Sango said happily, "Get back alright okay. And do well in your tests."_

_Kagome laughed. "I will, I promise. See you guys!" With many worded byes she jumped down the well, not knowing what was to come…_

Kagome was suddenly jerked awake as soon as the bell rang and she sleepily rubbed her eyes. And noticed everyone packing up their stuff for lunch and she was almost the last one left. Blushing in embarrassment of sleeping in the classroom, she quickly gathered her stuff and put it in her locker, the locker the teacher had shown her earlier.

A smile reached her face as she heard familiar voices of Hatsuharu and Momiji. "Hey," she said when they were near.

Momiji's eyes brightened and hopped towards Kagome, Hatsuharu following the bunny. "Ne, ne, Kagome-chan!" he said brightly as she couldn't help but chuckle at his enthusiasm, "Have you met Tohru-chan and the others? If not I want you to meet them!"

She laughed as he dragged her, unable to answer the bouncy teen. These people… these demon possessed people seemed to make her forget about her problems. Why she was here… everything. Right now, she was focused in trying to explain to the blonde bunny that she already knew them. Haru just followed them in a daze.

"Nya! Yuki! Tohru! Kyou!" the boy said hyperactive, only to be hit in the head by Kyou, "Waah! Kyou's being mean again!"

She blinked and couldn't help but laugh at their antics. Their eyes were on her and she noticed there were two other girls with them. She blinked… one looked like a gangster and the other… just seemed weird. But she could feel that they were both nice people at the same time.

"Oh, hello Tohru-san, Yuki-san and Kyou-san," Kagome acknowledged with a smile, "I met Momiji-san and Hatsuharu-san this morning, but didn't get time to tell him I already knew you all." She looked at the two unnamed girls, "Hello, I'm Tohru's cousin. Just call me Kagome. You are?"

The Yankee looked at her. She had long beautiful blonde hair and her eyes were a grey colour. Her school skirt was, unlike any other girls, almost up to her ankles. Her aura held defiance and superiority and Kagome could tell she was protective of her friends. "My name is Arisa Uotani," she said simply. Kagome smiled.

"I'm Saki Hanajima," the girl with black hair said, her voice in a monotone. She had purple eyes and her black hair was tied in a nice braid. She held an aura of maturity and… and Kagome couldn't put her finger on it.

"Psychic?" she thought to herself, not realising she had said it out loud.

The group stared at her wide-eyes and she looked at them confused. "What?" she said. She was really getting uncomfortable with the stares. They shook their heads and she rolled her eyes.

"You have a dangerous electric signals about you," Hanajima said looking at Kagome curiously.

Kagome laughed nervously. "What do you mean?" she asked and decided to try to change the subject. This didn't go unnoticed though. "So, Tohru, what time are you guys coming over?"

Tohru brightened at the thought of visiting her cousin's new home. "Oh, around four or five…" she said thoughtfully.

Kagome nodded appreciatively. "Great!" she said.

"Oh, Kagome-san," the Yankee, Arisa, said, making Kagome look at her, "Why did you suddenly decide to move instead of staying where you lived?" Everyone looked at her, not knowing the reason either.

Suddenly, all of Kagome's problems came back to her at full force, her black hair obscuring her eyes. Silence covered the whole group. "I…" her voice was soft and sounded broken. She looked at them with an obvious fake smile forced upon her face, "I just felt like it. Anyway, I have to go." She said standing up quickly and walking away from the group, and as soon as she was out of sight, tears cascaded down her face.

"They're truly gone forever…" she hiccuped as she stayed hidden from everyone's view.

-U-

Kagome stared gloomily at the board; the events of when she came home arose in her mind once again. She depressed, sad. Takumi Sensei had an idea why. After all, some teachers kept themselves well informed about student's lives and to know what happened to her, he just hoped no one brought out the subject of family.

Kagome rested her head on the desk. She knew that the Yankee was just curious and didn't mean any harm, but the question had reawakened her depressed thoughts beyond belief. And she invited Tohru and the guys over after school too. She just hoped that she could get herself together by then.

The bell rang, the sound ringing five times its size in her ears. It was troublesome really, that she was going to school. She didn't have anything in the future for her. She didn't have any idea of what she wanted to do in the future and she knew sooner or later the jewel shards were all to be found. And it was sooner than expected.

She sighed and leaned back in her chair as afternoon admin was beginning and Takumi Sensei read out the roll to see who was here. They were coming to her house after school, but not straight away. She knew that. Perhaps they were going back to get Shigure. She sighed as five minutes later the bell rung again, causing her to twitch slightly at the sound blaring in her ears.

She stood up, going to her locker and grabbing her bag as she felt eyes on her. She looked back to see the boy from her class with brown hair looking at her curiously, as if analysing her. She turned away, frowning, uncomfortable that someone was already watching her. Who was he? She hadn't bothered asking for his name… She'll find out tomorrow anyway. And why was he watching her anyway? Did he know she was a miko…? He was a strange one… but he also looked oddly familiar.

She sighed and adjusted her bag on her back before moving to walk home.

-U-

Tohru was excited. She wanted to see her cousin's house. "Shigure-san," she said gaining the dog's attention, "Are you coming along to Kagome-san's house?"

Shigure smiled at the happy girl. "Why, of course my little flower. I said that I would come yesterday, right." He said cheerily and then went back to look at the newspaper… surprisingly…

She smiled happily and then realised something. "Anou," she said making him look at her again, "Who's taking us there? We've never been to her house, also even if we have her address, we don't know the directions."

Shigure nodded and beamed at the worried girl. "Don't worry! That's why I called Ha-san," he said cheerfully as Kagome looked at him surprised. "I told him that we were going to meet your cousin and we needed someone to drive to her house!"

"D-demo…" she said uncertain, "Will Kagome let him come in?" Sure, she wanted Hatori to come, but the situation was that her cousin hadn't even met him and she had just met her herself. She couldn't just bring random people to her home.

"Of course she will," Kyou said coming down from the stars, now in casual instead of uniform. "Kagome is like you. Accepting of other people and kind. She won't tell 'Tori to go away," he said to Tohru, calming her somewhat. 'But the girl is always on her guard,' Kyou thought to himself. He was a fighter and Kyou could see that she was tense, but when she was with friends she would relax slightly. But only slightly.

Yuki sighed from the couch he sat on, "But still, it would be rude baka neko," Yuki said and then looked at Tohru, "Although, Kagome-san has forgotten to give us her number so we could contact her. I'm sure she wouldn't mind an extra member to the party. Besides, I think she would like to know who her cousin associates herself with."

Tohru nodded hesitantly before breaking into her happy carefree self. "Hai, you're right! She's my cousin after all." Tohru said brightly, although hoping Kagome really didn't mind, for she didn't want her to think of someone who did things without asking.

A knock sounded as someone waited patiently for the door. "I'll get it," was heard as Tohru went for the door and opened it to see the stoic seahorse. "Good afternoon Hatori-san," Tohru greeted with a smile, "I hope it isn't too much trouble."

Shigure pushed his way happily through and put his arms around the stoic seahorse's shoulder. "Of course he doesn't mind," Shigure piped in all too happy voice, "Isn't that right Ha-san? It's never a problem to do our little flower a favour."

Hatori glared at him. "Get your arm off of me and it seemed more like your idea than Honda-san's," he said icily and his look softened as he looked at Tohru, "Hurry, we don't have all day. She is waiting."

Tohru nodded and followed everyone out to the car, with the glaring cat and mouse behind them bickering about God knows what. The drive there was quiet and they briefly wondered if Kagome honestly walked all the way to their home. It seemed an awfully long walk if she had. Soon, their eyes fell on a house and couldn't help but stare in awe of her house.

"Wow," Shigure said with a whistle, "My little flower's cousin has a lot of money."

Just after he said that, two bumps formed on his head by two fuming zodiacs. Hatori resisted the urge to roll his eyes and rolled down his window as he came to the gate and rang the bell.

"Who is it you're after and state your reason?" A female voice sounded through the speaker above the bell.

"Higurashi Kagome's friends and cousin has come here to visit her. She invited us herself." Hatori said in a monotone to the speaker.

"Ah, Honda Tohru and the Sohma men," the voice rang through, "We've been expecting you. Very well, come through." And with that the gates automatically opened, letting the car through to view a beautiful garden with a one-storey house to go with it.

"Wow," Tohru said as she looked at the house, "Kagome-san must have a lot of money to live in a house like this," she said, surprised her cousin would live in a house this big.

They all got out of the car, Kyou with his arms crossed, grumbling and looking grumpy. Yuki, as usual, looked calm and composed. Shigure bounced around like a happy puppy and Hatori was, as usual, had a stoic expression as he led them to the door where maids were waiting. Tohru smiled and followed them and to the living room where they waited on Kagome.

-U-

Kagome sat in her gloomy corner in her room. She was already dressed for when her cousin came here, but the reminder of her family had hurt her deeply. She sighed as she heard the doorbell ring and a maid announce visitors were coming. Kagome sighed and got up. There was no time to think about that. She forced a smile on her face. She needed to welcome her cousin to this house warmly.

She walked down the hall towards the living room where her cousin and male companions were waiting and as she passed by, maids bowed. She mentally rolled her eyes. Really, Sesshou-nii had really overdone it with orders to treat her like royalty of something.

She reached the door and took a deep breath and let it out and placed a smile on her face and entered the room and it almost faltered when she saw an unfamiliar face, but she managed to keep it on. "Good afternoon everyone," she said politely and sat with them.

She looked at the sea-horse possessed man. She frowned, but as soon as it was there, it was gone. What was this? Not only did she feel an animal… sea creature, she felt something else as well, but she couldn't place it. She smiled. "I don't think I've met you. I assume you're another Sohma. As you probably know, I'm Tohru's cousin, Higurashi Kagome."

"It's a pleasure," he replied stoically and he oddly reminded her of Sesshoumaru, "My name is Sohma Hatori, cousin of Yuki and Kyou and a family doctor."

She smiled and nodded. There was an awkward silence and then… she decided to test her theory whether or not they knew about their curse. But she needed something to trigger it. Ah, perfect, Kyou and Yuki were glaring at each other. "Cat and mouse," in an instant she could feel the tension in the air and she inwardly chuckled and decided to ease them, "That's what you're like, Yuki-kun and Kyou-kun. You two continue to bicker at each other like cat and mouse."

The tension eased up a little. "Ah, is that so?" Yuki said trying to strike a conversation, "Not a lot have said so."

Kagome smiled mysteriously making the occupants in the room think about what she may do to them… the smile was so strange, but it quickly changed into a sweet, innocent, wasn't mysterious before, smile. "Oh, and for some odd reason Momiji reminds me of a hyper bunny rabbit, Haru a lost cow… in fact, all the Sohma's I've met reminds me of animals," she laughed, despite the tension in the room. She felt Tohru's tension as well… so she knew… Kagome just wondered what happened if it was triggered and how it was triggered.

Kagome waved her hand carelessly at their shocked expression. "Never mind, despite how you remind me of animals, you're all great people. I've met stranger… people. You are pretty normal people compared to who I'm associated with."

"What do you mean?" Hatori asked, trying to figure out Tohru's cousin. There was something off about her.

Kagome began to pretend to think. "Hmm, they're… unique in their own odd way…" She said smiling to the occupants of the room.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and she looked at the maid that bowed and came into the room. "Kagome-sama," she said a bit timidly, "Sesshoumaru-sama is on the phone and demands to talk to you immediately."

Kagome rolled her eyes at the particular action of Sesshoumaru calling. He was always protective of her and him calling after the first day was not surprising. However, she did not see the Sohma's shock at the mention of the name.

"Hai, I'll use this phone here to talk to Sesshou-nii," she said to the maid as she got up and picked up the phone, "Just hang up the other one." She smiled at the occupants in the room, not noticing their shock, "Sorry, I'll be done in a moment. I'll just say what he wants to hear." She put the phone against her ear. "Sesshou-nii? I have guests you know."

"_I realised,"_ Sesshoumaru's voice said dryly, _"You had the phone right next to your mouth while you were talking to the other people… who are they anyway?"_

Kagome laughed. "Don't worry, it's my cousin and the people she lives with. I invited them over." She said and then said dramatically, "Too bad it's not my boyfriend."

"_What?"_ She inwardly chuckled. She could just see his seething face, _"What do you mean?"_

"I'm joking, I'm joking, and I don't have a boyfriend. Geez Sesshou-nii," she said glancing at the curious faces of the people in the room. She winked at them and then returned to the conversation at hand. "So what do you want? And make it quick. I have visitors. Besides, you said you'd visit in the weekend."

She heard a sigh. _"Just checking up after your first day in school,"_ She smiled at that, _"And came to warn you that someone is hyper and probably on their way to your house... or is probably already there. Ok, I'm busy, I have to go and it seems you are too."_

"What? Wait… what do you—?" She sighed, the phone already hung up on the other end. She glared at the piece of technology in her hand. She put it down and sat with them with a smile. "Sorry about that. One of my best friends like checking on me once and a while…" She blinked at their shocked faces. "What?"

"You know Sesshoumaru Taishou?" Yuki asked for everyone in the room.

She nodded. "Yeah, didn't I tell you?" she said smiling, "My friend said that… Actually demanded that I live here so he could keep an eye on me." She said as she crossed her legs as she sat on the soft chair.

"Na, how does my flower's cousin know the billionaire Sesshoumaru Taishou?" Shigure asked, ignoring the glares.

She almost fell off her chair. "_Billionaire?_ The bastard never told me that!" she exclaimed and then coughed at her foolishness, a tint of red staining her cheeks, "I mean, he and I go way back. He's always been there for me when my friend, Inuyasha wasn't." She said, not sure if they knew that he had a little brother or not.

Suddenly the door opened and she snapped her head that direction, before an orange and black blur pushed her onto the floor. She coughed and looked at who tackled her down. Turquoise eyes looked into her own and a grin spread over the person's face.

"Okaachan!"

* * *

_**Authors note:**_** Wow, I didn't expect to get this many review on the first chapter. ha, I thought at most five because I thought no body would find it that interesting. I'm glad people like it. I love your reviews everyone. Anyway, about the pairings, I haven't quite decided yet and would like you all to choose any of the Sohma men. I've already had one wanted Kagome to be with Hatori and I don't know if there was an indication to Shigure as well... But anyways, I'm counting on you guys to vote for a pairing!**

**Anyways, Ja ne  
-SxT  
**


	3. Visitations and discoveries

**_Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter one_**

**_Title:_ Unpredictable**

**_Key words:_**

**-Okaachan/Okaasan: Mother or mum  
-Kogitsune: baby Fox (Should mean baby fox, but I'm keeping it as Shippou's surname or was it Kokitsune... oh well)  
-Gomen/Gomenasai: Sorry  
**

* * *

**Chapter three: Visitations and discoveries**

"Okaachan!" The exclamation seemed to echo throughout the room as Kagome tensed, realising that she would have a lot of questions to answer as soon as she figured the person on top of her was her one and only son. And plus, she sensed he was a kitsune youkai and she only knew one of them.

"Shippou," she began, but was interrupted with a distressed maid running into the room. "Kagome-sama, gomen, I tried to stop him, but he was too fast."

Kagome smiled at the maid and tried to sit up, but found she couldn't do so properly with Shippou on her lap. "Ah," She said looking at the maid with a sideway glance, "It's alright. You're not in trouble, but do bring us some snacks." The maid nodded and she left the room and she looked at Shippou and sighed. "Shippou-chan," she said sweetly, "If you would get off, I'd like you to meet my cousin and her friends."

Shippou gladly got off and Kagome looked at the once small boy, now looking like a grown man of 21. Kagome mentally sighed knowing they'll be a lot of questions needed to be answered with the term 'Okaachan' used earlier. Though, she smiled. Shippou looked successful with his expensive suit and his demonic features hidden away from human sight by Youki.

"Kogitsune Shippou?" Yuki said surprised, "_The_ Kogitsune Shippou, whose family is in league with the Taishou Company?"

Kagome's eyes widened. Did all the demons she knew get rich or something? She calmed her breath and then made introductions as snacks and tea were served in the room and they all got comfy in their seats… And Kogitsune… didn't that mean baby fox?

"Kagome-san," Hatori said, gaining the Miko's attention, "Why has Kogitsune-san called you Okaachan?" Kagome shifted nervously under all their stares, especially Hatori's. His eyes were calculating as if he knew she was hiding something.

She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Well, you see," she said, "That's a funny story…"

"When we were kids we used to play together and I always called her Okaachan," Shippou said saving her as he chuckled lightly, "That nickname stayed for such a long time, it seemed sad to stop it now. Oh, by the way, since I have seen you for _ages,_" The underlying message saying 'I haven't seen you in about five hundred years', "Why are you living under Sesshoumaru? Didn't you have your little brother, mum and grandpa you always talked about?"

Kagome's expression saddened when she heard that. It was an innocent question and she knew Shippou didn't know or else he wouldn't have asked. Inuyasha had kept his promise to her and had not told the others the truth in why she was upset.

The rest of the occupants looked at her confused at that. Well, except for Shigure and Hatori since they weren't in the school yard that day. Hadn't she said that she had felt like it to them in the yard? If so, why did she look like she was about to cry?

"Ah, Shippou-chan," she said, voice breaking again as she held back tears, "They're gone. When I returned from… from the travel… They were gone." Shippou got the message and held his mother-like figure close. 'They were killed when I returned from my journey and there was nothing I could do about it.'

"It's alright," Shippou said trying to lighten the room since she had visitors. "Anyway, I heard you went to Kaibara High School. I can tell you that my… err, nephew goes there."

She raised an eyebrow. "…Nephew… Shippou, you don't…" Suddenly her mouth was covered and discovered it was Shippou.

He let go and laughed nervously. "Sorry about that. But yeah... I'll tell you later." He said and glanced at the people at the room. "So, these are more strange people," he said laughing a bit, "Your life seems to like adventure and strange things."

She rolled her eyes. It wasn't like she could help it. She smiled. "Yeah, including you." She grinned at his pouting expression and turned to the others. "Sorry, I didn't expect so much interruptions. Anyway, you guys have to have dinner with me."

Tohru, being a nice person and never really able to decline, agreed along with the other Sohma men. Kagome smiled at this. Tohru was such an innocent girl. She didn't see death like she did almost everyday and didn't have to see her mother or any member she may have had in her family in such a bloody mess. She was so ignorant to all the bad things in life. She smiled sadly. She was _too_ innocent.

Dinner was a bliss. Conversations were versed and Yuki and Kyou didn't glare at each other as much as they would have, they themselves a little busy. Shigure, as per usual, causing commotion and reminded her not surprisingly of Miroku. Shippou conversed with Yuki, Kyou and Tohru happily.

But Hatori… he intrigued Kagome. He was stoic, mysterious; she couldn't place her finger on it. He was like Sesshoumaru, but there was something else there. Something she could not discover just by reading his aura and simply guess at the beginning…

Their eyes met as she bid them farewell at the door, but she just shrugged it off and looked at the others. "It was great getting to know the lot of you better," Kagome said as they said their farewells and went into the car, "See you Tohru-san, Yuki-kun and Kyou-kun tomorrow. And see you Hatori-san and Shigure-san… whenever I get to see you!"

She smiled slightly as they left her house. It was considerably dark but still enough light to see through the dark. She looked at Shippou who, in turn, had a raised eyebrow and was leaning on the wall staring at her. He smiled. "Okaachan," he said happily, "It's been forever since I last saw you." He formerly greeted.

She smiled sadly. "It's only been a week for me since I last saw you, but I missed you dearly," she said as he followed her to her room. He sat on one of the cushions on the floor and she sat on her bed.

Silence hung in the air, not sure about what to say. Then something occurred to her. "Shippou…. Inuyasha… is he…?" She couldn't finish the sentence, but Shippou looked sadly at her.

"Yeah," he said softly, his nature friendly, calmed and composed, "He died of old age though. Even though he was half demon, he was still half human as well and his life span was still shorter for a demon and far too long for a human. Are you going to still visit the feudal era?"

Kagome nodded sadly. "Yeah and at least he's lived his long life. I have to visit. I miss him too much not to visit the feudal era." She said smiling sadly, "And the Shikon Jewel?"

Shippou sighed. "It's gone. Remember, we used the wish to bring you to life," he said and then smiled softly, "Who knew you'd end up a dog demon."

She laughed and shook her head. "That's good. At least the jewel is no longer sought after," she said smiling and then remembered something, "Hey, so what's this about a nephew?"

Shippou smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck that made Kagome seem suspicious with his actions. "Well, did you know that Kirara… has a human form?" he said nervously and Kagome had to blink twice before what he said registered in her mind.

"_What_? You mean you and Kirara…?"

Shippou laughed and nodded, "Well yeah, and I couldn't exactly say a look-like eighteen year old boy goes to your school is my son. It would make more sense if he were my nephew. Oh, and I have two younger kits who are twins, and if not little devious might I add," he said, smiling, "I'll bring them next time."

She grinned, "That would be great Shippou-chan."

-U-

Hatori frowned as he drove to the main estate in silence. There was something different about Tohru's cousin, but he was not sure of what it was. She was strange. She named the animals of each of the Zodiacs that she'd met, of course leaving out himself and Shigure, but he had a feeling that she knew what they were as well… Even though she presented it in a manner as if she didn't know she had guessed correctly or even knew that they had zodiacs in them.

Of course it would sound weird if she had said he reminded her of a seahorse, but he didn't know why she didn't name Shigure as a dog. An obvious perverted dog at that. Maybe to keep from suspicion for guessing too many correctly… perhaps.

She walked silently to his home as he noticed it was about to rain. He let out a sigh, but continued along his way and entered his home. It was showering now, but he did not care now that he was in his home, but wondered briefly how Akito was doing. If something happened while he was at Kagome's house, he was pretty sure that he wouldn't get away without a punishment.

Suddenly his home phone rang, causing him to jump slightly at the shrill sound that entered the silence. He picked it up and sighed when a certain dog's voice came into hearing.

"_Ha-san_," Shigure said cheerfully, but Hatori noticed the underlying seriousness in it, "_What do you think of Kagome-chan?_"

"I suppose you're referring to what she said tonight." Hatori said. It wasn't a question, but a statement. Hatori knew Shigure very well and he always had reasons on his calls. "Kogitsune-san… I think there's more to both of them than meets the eyes."

"_And it's strange. She knew both Taishou-sama and Kogitsune-sama, yet she didn't know they were… billionaires."_ Shigure contemplated out loud, "_She's Tohru's cousin… So, she might be near most the time… I'll keep a close eye on her whenever I can. You should do the same Ha-san."_

"Perhaps," Hatori said and sighed, "But something tells me that if we spy on her, we may regret it."

"_Ah, but Ha-san, we can't simply just go and ask her because she'd think us weird if there really isn't anything to be suspicious about her,"_ Shigure piped up, "_So we have to do this the hard way. I'm sure she'll understand us if we do get caught and we explain it carefully to her."_

Hatori shook his head, but decided it was for the best of their family. "Fine, I'll try to keep a close eye on her as well…"

-U-

Kagome woke again to the shrill sound of her alarm clock and it took every ounce of her will not to throw and smash it against the wall. She stretched and got changed as the maids prepared her breakfast. Once she done all her morning routines, she grabbed her bag and walked to school, liking the smell of slightly fresh air. The pollution here wasn't as bad as it was in the city and she liked it here, but she did not like the reason why she had to forcefully move herself here.

She smiled as she looked at the trees that surrounded her, reminding her slightly of the feudal era. She'd have to go back soon. She missed everyone dearly. Inuyasha, Sango and Miroku especially. She hadn't seen them recently and only had contact with Shippou and Sesshoumaru. She briefly wondered if Kouga was still alive and dearly hoped he wasn't still sprouting nonsense about her being his woman.

She looked at the school before her and smiled. She had learnt yesterday that Tohru, Kyou and Yuki were a year under her in school. She sighed and decided to search for Shippou's son. He'd have the obvious last name 'Kogitsune', but she forgot to ask Shippou for his son's name.

"Anou, Takumi-Sensei," she approached the teacher.

He smiled and looked at her from the piles on his desk as he sat in his office… which was bright. "Ah, Kagome-san. What is it that you need?" he asked her politely.

"Anou, do we have anyone that goes by the surname 'Kogitsune' in our class or year level?" She asked, fidgeting under his calculating gaze. She was nervous. It wasn't that she was scared of anything. It was that, Takumi-Sensei seemed like a nice teacher and she didn't want him to think of her as a girl chasing boy fan thing, if that made sense. She mentally sighed.

He smiled at her question. "Kogitsune, eh? Yes, he's in class 3-B, in the room beside us." He said thoughtfully, "Ah, his first name is Kenji. He usually hangs around with Kai Taishou."

"Kai Taishou?" she responded immediately. Did that mean Sesshoumaru had a son? If he did, he had a hell lot of things to explain.

Takumi-Sensei nodded. "Yeah, he's in our class. The boy you sit next to, with brown hair." Her eyes widened. The boy who had his aura completely hidden from her? Now she was sure that he was Sesshoumaru's son. He would never be able to pull such a feat if it were any other… but why didn't he have silver hair like his old man?

"Thank you Takumi-Sensei," she said gratefully and bowed as he replied with a 'no problem' and left his office.

And that's when she started searching for the two. It was now lunchtime and Takumi-Sensei had said that they were friends and hung around with each other. She sighed. But he hadn't said _where_ they hung out though. She searched high and low in the school grounds, but found it odd that she could not find them. She stomped her feet down in frustration. Damn it, where were those two.

She shook her head and started to think. 'If I were a dog and a fox demon,' she thought to herself, 'Where would I be?' Then suddenly it clicked. "Aha," she said out loud, looking at the trees, "Inuyasha always loved staying on the treetops… for some odd reason."

She smiled to herself as she felt slight Youki from the very few trees that the school held, but mentally hit herself. Why didn't she just sense for Youki? She looked up the branch and saw the two boys peering down at her and she couldn't help but feel the other boy looked so much like Shippou.

"What do you want?" Shippou's almost look alike said, his green eyes peering down at her, edged with red. She figured, as Takumi-Sensei had said, this one is Kenji Kogitsune.

"Hn," the other said bored, the boy in her grade and who went by the name Kai Taishou, "She's the new girl in our class. Why are you here?"

Kagome smiled at them and feigned ignorance. "I was wondering if you two know where Kai Taishou and Kenji Kogitsune are? Do you happen to know?"

The two narrowed their eyes suspiciously at her. "Why?" Kenji said on his top guard as Kagome laughed inward. Oh, they were so different to their parents… well probably not Kai, he did act a little like Sesshoumaru.

"Oh, it's just I know their parents and didn't realise that they had sons my age or I could say yonks older than me, here at the school," she said leaning on the trunk of the tree.

"Impossible," Kai said, "The only way you'd get to know any of my parents is that if you lived long ago."

She looked at Kai. "Oh, so then you're Kai and Kenji," she said, making them realise their mistake then thought about what he said, "You mean…" she frowned, "Who's your father then, Kai? I know for sure Shippou and Kirara are Kenji's parents already." She smiled at his shocked face, "Don't be so surprised. You look so much like your father did when he was younger and how I am able to know this is my secret."

Kai narrowed his eyes at the woman on the bottom of the tree. "If you think my father is Sesshoumaru," Kai said, causing the girl to look at him surprised, "You are_ sorely_ mistaken." He bit at her.

"And it's impossible for someone like you to meet them anyway!" Kenji exclaimed, frowning

"Oh…" She smiled, "But still. And I have my secrets."

Kenji looked confused and then growled inhumanely, but it did not faze her. "Who are you and what do you want?"

Kagome smiled and avoided the question. "Anyway, I suggest you two to get down. The bell is about to go." And with that, she left the two curious and confused boys on the tree with the bell blaring in their ears a minute later.

-U-

Dark glaring eyes pierced into Hatori's skull as he sat in bowed position, not daring to look up to the _God_ of the family. For some reason, he could just _feel_ the anger radiating from the person before him. He briefly wondered why in God's name did this person scare him so much when he was a lot younger than him. But the answer was obvious. This person was God. This person was the leader to their curse. They had to obey him no matter what.

"Look at me," the voice was spoken in a calm voice, yet Hatori knew better. He knew that Akito was mad. Why? It probably had to do with yesterday… when he left without so much as a word with anyone and went to Shigure's house, but even then no one could contact Shigure due to the fact they went over to Kagome's household.

Hatori looked up to see eyes like dark, tainted emeralds staring into his own green ones, anger evident in his eyes. "Akito-sama, I--"

An echoing slap resounded through the room. "_I did not tell you to speak!"_ The God shrieked, face contorting in anger, knowing that somehow Hatori had just pushed the line.

His face stayed staring at the floor to the side of him since the slap. He dared not look at Akito, but knowing it was best not to anger him he slowly faced the angered _God_.

He kept silent as Akito looked at him. Akito forcibly calmed his features. "Where were you last night when I was sick?" he said in a sickly calm voice that Hatori had to contain a shiver from visibly showing, "When you went to Shigure-kun's house, but absolutely no one was home." Akito grabbed his shirt in such power and speed that it took his by surprise and he winced slightly at the pain, "_Where were you yesterday?"_ Akito yelled, hitting Hatori across the face again.

Hatori didn't know why Akito was so mad. He had merely just driven Shigure to and from Kagome's home. For him to act like this… he knew that he must've gotten an attack from one of his illnesses the night before, but was able to recover before midday as he took his daily checkups on him.

"_Answer me!"_

Hatori shut his eyes as he felt another oncoming blow as he slid across the floor and forced himself to sit up and forced himself to talk to the angry teen. "I was with Shigure, Yuki, Kyou and Tohru driving them to Tohru's cousin's house," he mumbled obediently.

Akito's eyes flashed and Hatori quickly added. "She has no idea of the curse and had just simply invited Tohru and the rest of us to have dinner yesterday. The only reason I went is because Shigure wanted me to give him a ride."

Akito looked at him angrily. "You're blaming Shigure for _your_ mistakes."

Hatori quickly shook his head. "No Akito-sama," he said, "It was my fault to have taken the offer to go there. I'm sorry Akito-sama," he bowed down low and winced as Akito kicked him in the ribs. He would never hurt his friend, nor blame them for the pain he was receiving now. It was his own fault. His own fault for leaving Akito alone.

-U-

Kagome jerked awake in class as a foreboding feeling came down upon her. She ignored Kai's questioning and curious gaze as she looked out the window with a frown. Something was wrong. She could _feel_ it. She was in the middle of a nice dream when Hatori's face, sad and haunted interrupted it. She hugged herself but could not think of the problem and why this one man affected her so much.

"Higurashi-san?" Kimou-Sensei, her English teacher, asked, making Kagome look at her and snapping her out of her trance, "Is everything alright?"

She gave a shaky smile and was about to say yes when something came into her mind. She shook her head and her face turned into a hurt expression. "Gomen, Sensei," she faked the hurt, "I don't feel so good."

Worried eyes looked at her. "Oh dear, go to the infirmary dear, um…" Kimou-Sensei looked around the room to look for a person to guide Kagome, but she simply shook her head and got up.

"It's alright Sensei." She said, "I don't want to bother anyone and let them fall behind class. I'll go by myself."

And with that she left the room, faking hurt as she clutched her stomach and then when she was a safe distance away from class, she let her hand drop softly by her side and ran off the school grounds. For some odd reason, she needed to find Sohma Hatori quick.

She walked around aimlessly as she sighed and came to a realisation. She did _not_ know where he lived and she thought it pretty stupid that she realised this now. She sighed and sat on the bench in the park and stared aimlessly at the sky.

"Why did Hatori-san come to mind?" She asked herself softly, as she leaned back, "A dog's intuition is good… is he in trouble?" She shook her head and sighed. _I only met him once. What makes you think that seeing his face in a dream means he's in trouble?_ She scolded herself lightly.

"Kagome-san," she looked at the person who turned out to be Haru and she smiled lightly.

"Ah, Haru-kun. How are you? Is school already over?" She asked and he shook his head.

"No," he replied as he sat next to her, "I was on the roof when I saw you run out of the school. I got curious and followed you."

She smiled at his bored tone and then something came to mind. If Hatori was really in trouble… it should be safe to check… "Anou, Haru-kun, do you know Hatori-san?"

He looked at her surprised before answering. "Yeah, he's my cousin." He said cautiously, "Why do you need to know and how do you know him?"

Kagome giggled a little at his caution and how he suspected her. "Ah, don't worry. He went to my house yesterday with Tohru-san, Yuki-kun, Kyou-kun and Shigure-kun. I suspected you were all family. It wasn't exactly explained to me." She explained and Haru relaxed a little.

"Oh, by the way, where does he live? I feel the sudden urge to meet him and talk to him personally. I didn't get to speak to him much last night. Everyone else talked to me and I didn't have a chance to put in a word here and there to him." She said, trying to make it sound like a good excuse to meet him.

Haru thought upon it. Should he take her back to the Sohma Estate? It wasn't really allowed and if Akito found out she was there to see Hatori, Akito might think something on it and punish Hatori… _again._ "I'm sorry," Haru said grimly, "I can't really take you there unless you're invited."

Kagome pouted. "Then, then say that _you_ invited me." She tried again. She just wanted to make sure he was safe.

Haru sighed. "It's not that easy--"

"Please?" she said, putting on her best puppy dog face.

Haru sighed, falling into the trick. "Fine." He said, "Come, we live at the Sohma estate, it's not far from here."

Kagome mentally hit her head. Of course, the Sohma Estate! Why hadn't she thought about it? Oh well, it wouldn't be long 'til she could see if Hatori was honestly in trouble.

-U-

A figure jumped up from a well in an abandoned shrine in Tokyo. He sniffed the air, his silvery hair bellowing in the wind and his red fire rat hakama swaying in the wind as his nose twitched. His amber eyes searched the place before him before jumping off again.

He needed to find Kagome.

The Shikon jewel was back.

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_**Authors note: **_**That was a lot of reviews O.O Haha, I'm so happy. I didn't think it's just get about 47 reviews for the two chapters altogether**. **Wow, you people really made my day. n.n I'm in the middle of Exams so the 4th chapter won't be in for a bit, but it'll get updated as soon as I can okay?**

**Ah, wow, I'm glad for the people the voted on what pairing it would be and I have to say the winner for the pairing is: Hatori/Kagome. Haha, anyways, sorry for those who didn't get the pairing they wanted, but majority rules. Hope you stick with the story anyway!**

**Anyways, Ja ne Minna and please review**

**-SxT**


	4. Inuyasha

**_Yo minna, how are you? lolol, anyways, sorry for the wait, but I kind of do have a life other than writing and I've been studying profoundly (lying) anyways. I've actually been addicted to two Japanese Dramas: Hana yori Dango (Boys over flowers) and Hanazakari no kimitachi e -Hana Kimi shortened- (You in full blossom -or something along those lines-) They're both really good and was written in a manga before hand xD... Oh and I've also been drawing my own manga. -sigh- Lolol._**

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Kagome followed Haru through the main estate with wide eyes. It looked like a small village in here! … But she frowned. She could feel a dark aura surrounding the place, like it was close to death of some sort, like a dark curse was roaming around in there. She unconsciously shivered, but followed Haru nonetheless.

The entered one of the houses and Haru looked at her. "He lives here, but he's not in at the moment." He explained as he led her to a small couch. He sighed, "I'll wait with you."

Kagome looked at him gratefully. "Thanks Haru-kun. I'm sorry for all the trouble, but I was bored," she said, "And I wanted to talk to Hatori…"

He shrugged. "It's no problem," he said, but was worried if the only reason Hatori was not in at the moment was because he was visiting Akito. _I really shouldn't have let her come,_ he thought to himself as he waited for Hatori.

Suddenly the door opened and Kagome scrunched up her nose. _You can't be serious,_ she thought, as the scent of blood was strong to her nose. Haru stood up to turn to look at Hatori as he staggered into the room with an obvious pain-filled face. _What the hell happened?_

"Hatori," Haru said as he moved forward o help Hatori on to a chair. Hatori had not noticed her yet, for that she was a bit glad because she knew that he definitely didn't want her, a stranger 'til yesterday, to see his weakened state.

"Haru," he said, voice a bit weak, "What are you doing here? You should be at school."

Haru sighed. "Skipped. And followed Kagome out of school. She said she wanted to see you." He explained as Hatori's eyes snapped towards her worried form. Kagome briefly wondered if this was what happened all the time since Haru's voice seemed calm and undeterred by Hatori's present state.

He looked at Haru with a forceful glare. "She's not allowed here. What if Akito finds out? Not only would he hurt me, but he'd hurt her too."

_So that's it. _She thought to herself darkly, _This Akito…_ She looked at him with crossed arms and said rather darkly, "This Akito…" she said pausing for effect as they looked at her, "…Won't hurt me nor you. I've been through too much shit to be hurt by a lowly human such as… him or her. Either way, I just don't care if this person is male or female. If he's the one that hurt you," she said, her demonic instincts taking over for one reason or another, "Take me to him now and I'll make sure—"

"It's alright Kagome-san," Hatori interrupted, shaking his head slightly, "There's only one thing you could do that would cause no one any harm and it would be to leave before anyone saw you. It's bad enough that you may be hurt, but also it's just…"

"We don't blame Akito-sama," Haru said finishing it off for Hatori, making Kagome look at them incredulously, "Look, it isn't his fault, nor it is ours." He shook his head, "Come, let's go and we could visit Yuki."

Kagome blinked. "What?" she said at the abrupt change of subject. She briefly forgot who was Yuki. "Oh, Yuki-kun," she said with a snap as she suddenly remembered. She sighed and realised they weren't going to tell more about their situation. "Fine, but after we pay attention to your wounds Hatori-san. It'd do no good if you did them yourself. Doctor or not."

-U-

Inuyasha hands tightened around the cap on his head. Where was Kagome? Sure, she said she wasn't visiting for a while, but this was important. He reared back as an attack came out of nowhere and he turned to see a human-like demon grinning like a madman his fangs showing.

They stood on the empty compound of the Higurashi shrine, the wind blowing dust around here and there. Inuyasha frowned as he leaped a distance away from the attacker. "What do you want?" he growled, though he had a pretty good idea why he was there.

The demon laughed darkly, his waist-length red hair bellowing in the wind. "Are you really that dense _Hanyou_." He said, making Inuyasha glare suspiciously at him. "Do you think that no demon has sensed the power radiating from you?" he smirked viciously, "Don't worry, I'm not here to fight… yet. But I do warn you, the miko will be in trouble." And with that he disappeared with Inuyasha shock still as he stared at the spot where the demon disappeared in a blink of an eye.

With a new resolve and unanswered questions, he made a run for it, holding the cap on his head, trying to find Kagome's scent in hopes that she is safe. He stopped in his tracks when he recognised some of Kagome's friends every time he had come to this era and stopped right in front of them, causing them to bump into his figure unexpectedly.

"Oh, sorry," said one of them as she dusted off invisible dust on he skirt.

"You're Kagome's friends, right?" Inuyasha said, cutting to the chase, "Do you know where she moved to?"

"Huh?" she replied with a blank look, "Yeah… she moved to Kyoto or Saitama. Why?"

But as soon as she said that, the figure in front of her and her friends was gone. She blinked. Where did the odd boy go?

Said odd boy was running as fast as he could before he realised that he didn't exactly know where Kagome was. Kagome's scent was gone by now so he couldn't follow her. Finding her through this polluted air was going to be tough… He didn't even know where this 'Kyoto' or 'Saitama' was. He cursed under his breath.

He was never going to find her at this rate. He looked around, buildings and humans were everywhere. He stopped at the park, unable to really go any further without any indication to where she might be. Suddenly everything froze and everything became blue. He looked about him, children pausing in mid-step, a dog in the air catching a Frisbee and a ball frozen in mid-bounce with kids, frozen, silent, hovering over it.

Inuyasha wondered why on Earth was he the only one moving, why was he not frozen like the rest. His questions were short lived as he heard echoing footsteps coming his way and he turned abruptly towards the sound and saw a cloaked figure, its hood covering its face.

Inuyasha jumped back away from the cloaked figure on instinct and put some distance between the two of them. He narrowed his eyes at the moving figure. "What do you want?" He demanded and although he could not very much of his face, he could tell that the figure was smirking.

"You're looking for Lady Kagome, no?" The voice said, identifying itself as a male. His voice was melodious and silky, but at the same time sounding sly.

Inuyasha glared at the person, holding the Shikon no Tama closer to himself in his pocket. "What do you want?" he growled out.

He laughed, a sound that didn't sound so evil. Inuyasha looked at the figure curiously. "Don't worry young Hanyou," he said, "I'm not after the Shikon Jewel." Suddenly his voice turned serious, "But I'm running out of time. Look for the Sohma's and I guarantee that you'll find the girl."

"What?" Inuyasha stared at the figure blankly, "What do you mean?"

The figure's smile could be seen. "Farewell Inuyasha… For now." And like that colour was brought back to life and the figure disappeared before Inuyasha could say a thing. Inuyasha looked about him and everything was back to normal as if nothing had happened. And for them, it hadn't.

-U-

Kagome sighed as she finished dressing his wounds and put some ointments on his bruises that she had with her. She had the ointments with her on force of habit due to the injuries sustained during her time in the feudal era. You could never be too careful and now she brought bandages, antidotes for poison and ointments just in case. She, being a miko and the protector of the now-should-be gone jewel, one could never be too careful.

"There all done," she said smiling up at Hatori as she stood up and patted off invisible dirt off herself.

Hatori looked at her curiously. "Why do you carry around all those ointments with you?" he asked as Kagome was packing her stuff.

She smiled and said very lightly. "Well, you never know when you need them. I carry them around just in case."

Hatori raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't say anything. A girl can be cautious if she wanted to. "Well then," she said, "Let's go to Yuki's… Do you want to come with us Hatori-san?" Her back turned to him, as he still didn't have a shirt on from the time she finished looking over the bruises and wounds. She felt slightly embarrassed even though she's seen men's chest all the time in the feudal era, considering how much trouble Inuyasha always seemed to get into.

Hatori nodded, not that she could see. "Sure, it would do good to check up on Yuki anyway," he said putting on a shirt and a jacket as she heard a jingle of keys and turned back to Hatori and smiled at Haru.

"Okay then," she said, "School must be over now, so they have to be home." Suddenly she froze at the door, unable to move as a dark feeling came over her. Hatori and Haru looked at her curiously. She shivered unconsciously as she looked at what seemed to be a random direction. "The Shikon Jewel…" The words came out of her mouth before she could even think about it and in a rush, she ran out.

Hatori and Haru were confused, but when they saw her suddenly run and feeling there might be trouble brewing they followed her. She ran amazingly fast for a girl and both men had trouble catching up to her.

Kagome raced through the streets, her heart pounding in her ears. This wasn't right. It granted one wish and would leave. It would leave them alone. Why on Earth was it back? Why on Earth could she feel its presence?

"Kagome!" The usually composed Hatori said, but was blatantly ignored. She seemed in frenzy, panicked over something that neither Hatori nor Haru knew about. His legs were about to give out. He was still out of shape due to recent beatings from Akito and was about to give up when Kagome stopped abruptly causing both the males to almost bump into her back, but that would do no good… they'd turn into animals.

Haru opened his mouth about to say something when he looked at what she was staring at and saw a teenager looking about his age wearing the oddest clothes and shaking a poor child demanding to know… where the Sohma's lived. Haru was about to act when Kagome beat him to it.

"Inuyasha!" she said in a tone full of warnings, "Put the boy down now!"

The mystery boy, now deemed 'Inuyasha' stopped what he was doing and looked at Kagome in shock before dropping the poor kid. And then ran to Kagome surprising them all when he gave her a hug. "Thank God you're okay!" he said before he realised what he was doing and abruptly let go.

Inuyasha sighed as he saw all questioning stares, his hat still in place covering his dog-like ears. "Inuyasha," Kagome said, "Is what I sense that is here, that shouldn't be here, here?" She asked, confusing the males behind her, but Inuyasha understood.

"Yeah," he answered dejectedly, "At least you're safe. They said that they'd be after you. It's in my pocket…" he looked at the two men behind her then back at Kagome, "And who are they? Are these the Sohma's I've heard about?"

"Heard about?" Kagome repeated incredulously, "And where on Earth did you hear about them?"

Inuyasha sighed and grabbed her arm. "I need to talk to you in private. I'll tell you then, everything." He said as Kagome nodded in understanding.

She turned to Hatori and Haru. "Hey, this is my old friend I haven't seen in a while," she said while taking steps back, "I'll be talking to him for a bit, but it might be a while so I suggest you go to Shigure-kun's house before me." And with that she quickly grabbed Inuyasha's wrist and they both ran a safe distance away from the confused Sohma's.

When they were a safe distance away, Kagome stopped walking and abruptly turned to Inuyasha, arms crossed. "Explain now."

Inuyasha sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "It's a long story, so it's best that we sit down somewhere." Inuyasha said as he pulled her down to nearby benches.

Hatori, on the other hand, stared after Kagome and Inuyasha as they left and hadn't left the spot since then. Hatsuharu was standing silently next to him as Hatori stared after them and Hatori couldn't help, but feel a slight sting to his chest as she left with her _friend._ In reality, he didn't know why he was feeling this and this had confused him, for he had only met her once before.

"Hatori," Hatsuharu said bringing him out of his reverie as Hatori looked at him questioningly, "Are we going to wait for Kagome-san, or are we going to go to Yuki's like she said to?"

Hatori sighed lightly and looked back to where Kagome ran. "Yeah, let's go to Shigure's home," he said looking away from the spot and walked away, with Hatsuharu in tow. He took one more glance back before walking again, slightly nerved in how he, himself, was acting.

-U-

"Okay, Inuyasha," she said with arms crossed leaning back and stared at the sky, "Explain why I can sense the Shikon no Tama because really, it's annoying, it disappears and comes back when it pleases."

Inuyasha nodded silently, staring at his feet as he thought of how to start. "Yeah," he said quietly, still unsure with what to say or where to start. He sighed and took the slightly tainted pink jewel out of his pocket and Kagome's eyes widened at the sight of it. Slowly she reached for it and as soon as she touched it, it returned to its bright pinkish colour, despite herself being a demon.

"So, it's really back," she said cradling the jewel she thought she'd never see again as if it were a fragile item, and it was.

"Yeah," Inuyasha said and then looked down with a sigh, "It's weird. When we thought we could finally just live peacefully… It just had to come back."

Kagome smiled softly at him. "But you living quietly doesn't suit you," she said and sighed, "I can only imagine you making brash decisions and doing something stupid." She said smiling fondly as she remembered the memories and then something crossed her mind and she looked at Inuyasha. "The jewel didn't effect you." She stated obviously looking at his not supposed to be sane form after holding the jewel, "It didn't make you go blood thirsty."

Inuyasha nodded ignoring what she said about him being stupid. "We all think its because I had already used my wish to ask for you to live," he said, "Maybe it didn't effect me because I had already used up a full wish. And before you could ask how it isn't affecting you because you're a demon now is probably because…" he seemed to think, "You're still the protector of the jewel. You're the only miko that could really protect it and you weren't born a demon, but originally a human."

She smiled at how mature he sounded, but she bet he probably discussed this with Sango, Miroku and Kaede before he came here looking for their last hope in someone to protect the jewel. "So you're saying that the jewel isn't affecting me because it knows of my origins."

Inuyasha nodded. "It changed you after all." He said, "It must've recognised you if it changed you itself."

Kagome smiled. "You're quite knowledgeable today," then she smiled sadly, "The Shikon no Tama…" she muttered as she stared at the jewel in hand, "How… how are the other's doing?" she asked in a soft voice.

Inuyasha sighed. "They're doing okay. Shippou misses you, you know. Not only him, but everyone else too. This took us off guard, but somehow, to us it meant you'd be back faster and we could all see you again, but it proved us wrong, as you didn't seem to come. We had gotten worried and the demons aren't dead to that fact that the Shikon no Tama was back, so they sent me here to give you that jewel, because you're the only one that can mask its presence."

Kagome looked at the jewel in her hand. "Will you be going back, or are you going to stay here…?" Truth be told there was many times where she wanted to go back to the feudal era, but she dreaded returning to the Higurashi shine. She could not get the images of their dead bodies out of her mind.

Inuyasha sighed and got up. "I… don't have an answer to that yet," he said and looked at her, "But there are still some dangers that lie here. And anyway, weren't you going to meet back with your half animal friends?"

Kagome blinked and then jumped up in surprise. "Oh, crap, I forgot about them!" she exclaimed, then smiled innocently at Inuyasha, "You're coming along though."

He blinked and sighed. "I'm not entering the household though."

She smiled. "It's okay, there are a lot of tree around there anyway. You can just sit in there 'til I come out again."

He shrugged. "Fine with me, just don't stay in there for too long."

-U-

Hatori was annoyed. Very, very annoyed and he did not hide his displeasure from his face. What happened to Kagome anyway? The others, but Shigure, hadn't noticed his displeasure though. Yuki and Kyou, as usual, argued and Tohru watched with much hesitation, with Haru by Yuki's side.

"Na, Ha-san," Shigure said while the others were occupied, "What's up? You're unusually moody… well, more so than usual."

Hatori sent him an annoyed look. "I'm fine," he said, than sighed, knowing it would usually be useless to lie, "Actually, I felt uneasy leaving Kagome with the strange boy, and feeling more annoyed with myself for actually caring." He looked at Shigure and instantly regretted what he had said, for Shigure's eyes looked like they had hit gold.

"Na, na, Ha-kun?" he said with a voice that sounded illegally innocent, "Do you _like_ Kagome?"

With that he received a large bump on the head. And as soon as he had done that, there was knocking on the door as Tohru happily went to get it. "Ah, Kagome-chan!" was heard from the door and a laugh was heard.

"Sorry about the wait," Kagome's voice rang merrily as she came closer to the room that everyone currently resided in, "An old friend of mine had found me and wanted to talk to me. After all, I hadn't seen him in a while."

"Yo." She said coming into the room and seated her next to Hatori, who in turn just looked away, "How's everyone? I'm afraid I cannot stay long though."

"How come?" Kyou said leaning back onto his hands, blatantly ignoring Haru who was clutched onto Yuki's arm.

Kagome smiled. "Inuyasha, my friend is still waiting for him. I intended to have him meet you guys, but he didn't want to come in."

"Kagome-san," Shigure said catching her attention and she noticed Hatori's back was facing her… like he wanted to ignore her (but in fact he just felt nervous sitting right next to her for some… odd reason).

"Yeah?" she said eyeing Hatori before looking at Shigure.

He grinned. "Does that mean he's waiting outside?"

She nodded. "Yep, probably on a high branch of a tree."

Silence covered the room for a while before the message sunk in and Hatori looked at her. "What?"

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**_Yo, sorry if that was crap. I've been finding time to write all my stories in between work, school, homework and watching/drawing manga/JDramas. Lolz. Hopefully I'll finish this earlier next time. Review review!_**

**_SxT_**


	5. Suspicions

**_Yo, minna, I am back again with the next, surprisingly, a little bit longer chapter... well I think it is. Haha, I got great reviews last time. Haha sorry that I cannot update fast, but as I have said, I do have a life to lead. Haha and its my b'day soon Yay, I'm turning 17... yeahehehe..he lmfao, anyways, enjoy the chapter ahead. Yoshi!_  
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**Chapter five: Suspicions**

Kagome stretched as she stood up happily, almost with a happy hop. "Ah, he's outside if you want to meet him," she spoke into the patent silence that had devoured the room seemingly at that moment. "Uh, why's everyone so quiet?" she asked a little nerved.

"You said he was in a high branch of a tree?" Kyou finally spoke, bringing the others out of their stupor, "Why would he bother climbing a tree if you weren't going to be long anyway?"

Kagome blinked and then laughed nervously. "Ah, he," she said trying to think of an excuse, "Uh, he, uhm, he thinks that it would be quite a while 'til I exit the house again. I have a tendency to make him wait… or so he says."

"Well, I'd like to meet this _friend_," Shigure said, stressing the word 'friend' much to Hatori's annoyance, "Of yours if you don't mind." The others agreed to the statement, mostly out of curiosity of this strange friend of hers, well, except for Hatori, who in turn just kept a stoic face, but Kagome blatantly ignored that.

"Okay then," she said as she lead the way, "He's in… one of the trees." She informed as she opened the doors to the outside world and walked out. She looked up at what seemed to be any random tree to the Sohma's, but in fact she had sensed his presence there and was about to warn Inuyasha to _not_ jump down from that height (or the Sohma's would definitely suspect something was really wrong) when Inuyasha jumped down, surprising everyone _but_ Kagome, who in turn looked annoyed.

"You wench," Inuyasha's usual insults came, "What took you too long?"

Kagome held her anger in, but looked at him with a palpable fake smile on her face. "Ah, Inuyasha, it's _dangerous_ to jump from such a height." She said with a forced tone, that Inuyasha just _knew_ he would be getting 'sits' later on in the day, "And I was in there no longer than five minutes."

"Anou," they both looked at Tohru inquiringly, "You have strong legs, Inuyasha-san. Are you good at sports, perhaps high jumping? People usually get hurt from that height… so I was just wondering." Asked a good-natured, innocent Tohru.

But, Kagome could tell the Sohma's were apprehensive of Inuyasha. Kagome looked at Inuyasha to see how he would answer, but he seemed at a loss for words. So instead she answered. She laughed, catching everyone's attention as she patted Inuyasha's back in what seemed good nature, but in fact Inuyasha was holding in his pain. "Oh, he's good at what he does. In… the past, he liked to hold swords, run and jump a lot." …Well, she didn't lie, and it wasn't odd for someone to play with a _wooden_ sword when they were younger. "Isn't that right, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha didn't miss the warning tone as she turned to face him and he nodded and crossed his arms with an 'hmph', although, inside he hoped to dear God that when she was alone with him again that she wouldn't 'sit' him for –to what he now realized- stupidly jumping from a height that would look as if not even a normal human could survive.

"Anyway," Shigure piped up, "Inuyasha, right? I'm Sohma Shigure." For some odd reason, looking at Inuyasha his dog instincts barked at himself to respect this _person_ in front of him. He had a feeling that he might just be born in the year of the dog, or maybe he was a dog person. "Do tell, what year of the zodiac were you born in?"

Hatori looked at Shigure annoyed. What was the dog up to? Asking that out of nowhere. He looked at Kagome, who he noticed was acting nervous and strangely ever since she had met up with the boy… and honestly, he didn't like it one bit.

"Zodiac?" Inuyasha replied with a blank face, "What's a zodiac?"

Kagome groaned at Inuyasha's stupidity. He could've at least stalled, or something. Seriously, everyone may not know what animal they were born in, but they weren't as stupid as to not know what the zodiac was.

"He… he was born in the year of the… dog," she answered for him with a tired sigh and then shook her head.

"Do you really don't know about the zodiacs?" Yuki inquired, a little intrigued.

Inuyasha shrugged. "Meh, I never really cared about anything, much less… this zodiac thing." The 'I wasn't born in this time' was left out completely as Kagome smiled and just introduced the rest of the Sohma's and her cousin to Inuyasha.

As everyone got acquainted and the other teens (Yuki, Haru, Kyou and Tohru) tried to get the hat off his head so that they could actually see what he looked like without it (Actually that was just mainly Kyou and Hatsuharu), but Inuyasha kept jumping away, causing a chase.

Kagome just shook her head at the sight, and felt a presence beside her all of a sudden. She looked beside her and saw a shadowed figure beside her and frowned. No one had noticed his presence, but her, since everyone else (or so she thought) was focused on Inuyasha.

"Miko of the Shikon Jewel," a soft masculine voice reverberated beside her and she narrowed her eyes, but didn't move so as to not catch attention of the others. "Trouble is brewing."

She looked at him and nodded lightly, moving into the shadows. "Wait for a bit. While everyone's occupied, you can tell me who you are and why you seem to think trouble is brewing." She said. She looked back at everybody and sighed and slipped into the shadows away from prying eyes.

Although, unknowingly, a pair of eyes watched her leave.

-U-

Hatori narrowed his eyes as he saw a stranger in a long cloak, obscuring its face, appear next to Kagome. He watched as Kagome seemed to talk to him in low voices before slipping into the woods. He looked at Shigure, who in turn, nodded, telling him to leave and find out what they were up to.

Quietly, he slipped away and followed them.

"Priestess," he suddenly heard and he stopped in his tracks, not daring to come any closer for the fear of being discovered. Somehow he knew that he shouldn't interrupt what was going on.

"Demon," He suddenly heard Kagome's voice, but he couldn't believe it was her. It sounded so cold… so unlike her. "What do you want? If it's the Shikon no Tama you're after…" She didn't finish what she was going to say, but there was a threatening tone in it.

"The… Shikon no Tama," the dubbed 'demon' said, "I'm surprised a demon like yourself could even touch the Shikon jewel… Priestess."

Hatori moved a little, walking a bit closer to the voices, even though his instincts told him not to. Curiosity was getting the better of him. He stood behind a thick trunk of a tree when he was close enough to get their visual. What he saw, he was surprised. They stood across from each other, Kagome with a bow in one hand and the 'demon' before her, had his hood down, a smirk placed upon his face and ears pointed.

"That is none of your concern," she said in a voice that held authority. "Now tell me, what did you mean by the terms 'trouble is brewing'?"

He laughed, his fangs protruding out of his mouth as bright as day. "Trouble… you are in trouble. Naraku may be gone, but he was not the only evil this world possessed." He said, "I told Inuyasha of your location and warned you of a possible upcoming battle. Now, until my master gives me anymore orders, my mission is done."

He was about to leave when Kagome's cold voice cut through stopping him. "Stop right there!" she said and Hatori saw her hold up a bow and a arrow seemed to materialized out of nowhere, pointing dangerously at the dubbed 'demon'.

"I may not have human blood anymore," she said in a cold voice that seemed to chill Hatori to the bone, "But that does not mean that I cannot purify you. How on earth do I know that you're not the enemy? Who is your master?"

The two stared at each other in what seemed like an eternity before Kagome's eyes narrowed and let go of her arrow and in that same split second, the 'demon' disappeared from the spot. Hatori blinked as he stared at the scene before him that shouldn't even be possible.

"Where did he--?" Hatori began before Kagome, who abruptly turned to where he stood, interrupted him. "Hatori! Run!"

"Wha-?" He didn't even finish what he was about to say as arms grabbed him into a lock and sharp-like claws were held against his neck as Kagome held another pure-like energy arrow in place in her bow, pointing directly at Hatori.

"Dear, dear Miko," the melodious voice of the 'demon' vibrated behind Hatori as the demon held his dangerously close to his body and claws. "You have few liabilities here. Humans, or friends," he said tracing a sharp claw at the edge of his neck, slightly grazing it, "they are a weakness to you."

Kagome's eyes narrowed as pink-like pure energy seemed to surround her in an angry motion as he eyes turned a shade of blood red as she said in a deadly voice: "Put. Hatori. Down. Now."

-U-

Inuyasha stopped in his tracks as he felt an angry energy spike and searched the current grounds for Kagome, but saw her not in sight. He held the tightly to his head as Kyou and Haru stopped as well, looking at the half demon questioningly. Inuyasha sniffed the air and smelling what he didn't like a small growl emitted from his throat.

"Sorry, but I have to cut this short," Inuyasha said, actually quite serious, "But a friend of mine needs help." And with that he jumped off, leaving the boys and girl present confused.

As he jumped away, Inuyasha couldn't believe how stupid he was not noticing the lack of Kagome's aura and scent and also the seahorse's scent as well. He could catch another aura as well, and it was the one that helped him, but with the way Kagome's aura was reacting, he was guessing that the demon who helped him before was an enemy.

"Kagome?" he yelled as he jumped through the last bushes and trees as his hat fell off. Kagome didn't look of at him, but nodded to let him know she heard him.

What Inuyasha saw was not a pleasant sight. "Inuyasha," Kagome spoke up, as the Hanyou jumped beside Kagome and looked at the demon and the trapped half-seahorse. "You met up with this demon before?"

The demon gave them a grin, which almost seemed mocking as he held the slightly struggling zodiac in place. "I told you Hanyou," he said with a grin, "That I would meet up with you soon. But I didn't think this soon." He let go of Hatori accidentally cutting his cheek with his sharp nails. "Woops," he said unconcerned as he licked the blood of his fingers. "I will tell this to both of you, this enemy is much stronger than Naraku ever was. There is no time for you two to start thinking me as your enemy and start thinking of a way that'll make you win. Remember that Miroku and Sango do not exist in this time era, so you don't have as many strong allies."

He smirked at her angry figure and he could just feel the pure energy radiating off of her. "I will say this though. You do not want any more enemies than you do now." And with that he vanished and Hatori sat up, wiping the blood of his cheek, only to find it still bleeding.

Kagome sighed and looked at Hatori and bent down and touched his cheek. "You shouldn't have followed," she whispered as she healed the slight wound on his cheek, "I knew you were here all along and hoped that you had, at least, the brains to run away from the obvious danger _and_ you still hold those wounds from earlier today."

"What… just happened?" Hatori asked as soon as he found his voice as he steadied himself next to the trunk of the tree. He looked at Inuyasha, "_What_ are you?"

They didn't answer him. Instead they seemed to be thinking about what to do. "Kagome," Inuyasha said finally. "Are you going to…?"

She sighed and nodded, knowing what he was going to say without him finishing the sentence and smiled sorrowfully at the confused sea horse. "Ah, gomen Hatori-san," she said as she put a hand on his forehead, "This is a skill I doubt that you don't know for you possess it yourself. I learnt it while in training." She sighed, "I really wish you found out a different way, Hatori-san." Then, a blinding blue light surrounded the area as Hatori closed his eyes, forgetting anything that ever happened between her and the demon.

"Did you have to do that?" Inuyasha asked looking at the unconscious seahorse and then went to retrieve his lost hat.

She nodded. "It was necessary Inuyasha," she replied, "It's not that I don't trust him, but I cannot risk it because there's a high possibility the he would tell Shigure. I do not want them to get involved with anything to do with my time in the feudal era and the Shikon Jewel. That is something they need not know. Anyway, want to lift him?"

"Tch, he's your friend," Inuyasha said walking towards his hat, "You caused this problem. You lift him. The only human I ever allowed on my back was you anyway."

She rolled her eyes and sighed as she lifted Hatori off the ground. He wasn't that heavy to her due to her demonic blood. After all, she now possessed strength she did not own before.

Once Inuyasha secured the hat on his head. "So, what are zodiacs anyway?" he asked as they began to walk back to Shigure's home, "Does it have anything to do with these animals they have inside them?"

She smiled slightly as she carried the unconscious doctor, an odd sight since Kagome did look like a frail girl that wouldn't be able to lift anything too heavy, yet she was carrying a full grown male on her back. "I do not know anything about the animal spirits in them, except that they are animals from the zodiac. I don't even know what the spirits in them do." She paused in her explanation, "The zodiacs originally came from an old folktale where there were thirteen animals, one of those animals not being part of the zodiac because of being tricked. Each of these _twelve_ animals represents each year. It goes in the order of Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar. And it repeats those twelve animals in that order every twelve years. For example, I was born in 1982 therefore was born in the year of the dog."

Inuyasha nodded as if he understood. "I see…"

Kagome laughed. "You didn't really get that, did you?" she grinned, but then was snapped out of it as she heard a groan on her back. She turned her head a little to look at the semi-conscious dubbed 'year of the dragon'. "You're finally awake, huh?"

"Ha-sa…" Shigure started, but the word was cut short in his mouth when he saw Hatori's position. Kagome smiled lightly at Shigure as she let Hatori off of her back, who, in turn held a bemused expression. Why hadn't Hatori changed into a sea horse?

Kagome looked between the two, who was staring at her in shock and seriousness that she _knew_ she had done something wrong. She smiled a little nervously. "Uh, I go-got to go now," she said a little nervously and looked at Inuyasha, "A-after all, Inuyasha has finally visited me after a long time and I'm sure it would be too rude to not take _Sesshoumaru's_ otouto back to my house for some tea." She said stressing the word Sesshoumaru. After all, he was a big name here and surely, they would let her go without questioning… about _something_ that she didn't know about.

Shigure broke into a grin, much to her relief. "Okay, we'll be seeing you around soon, ne?"

She smiled at both of them. "Of course. C'mon Inuyasha," she said dragging him along as quickly as she could escaping the awkwardness that had seemed to engulf them.

When she was out of sight, Shigure frowned. They walked back to the house and saw that everyone was basically in the house doing the usual as Shigure happily greeted them and then retreated to his room, with Hatori following behind him.

Shigure looked at Hatori after a while before asking, "What happened after you followed her?"

Hatori looked confused for a bit. "What… do you mean followed?" he replied, which caused Shigure to frown even more.

"You followed her when she went alone into the woods with the guy in a cloak," Shigure said. "Don't you remember?" Shigure asked feeling uneasy as to where this conversation was going. "And you came back unconscious, practically on her _back_, why didn't you transform."

Hatori rubbed his head in annoyance. "I don't remember any of that except being carried." A sudden idea struck him, "Do you think she could erase a person's memory like me?"

"…That could explain why you can't remember…" Shigure said slowly, "But that would mean that she would be one of the zodiacs, but all the zodiac animals have been taken." Shigure let out a small sigh, "Maybe she's an animal, just not part of the zodiac. Maybe there are more people like us in the world with different animals in them."

Hatori shook his head. "I don't know," he said frowning, "Somehow I feel that it's something different."

-U-

Kagome let out a sigh of relief once she entered her house, with the Hanyou following behind her. "They looked at me as if I were crazy." She mumbled to herself as she flopped down onto the couch with a tired yawn.

Inuyasha sat next to her, "Maybe you did something you weren't supposed to. Or they were surprised you could actually lift Hatori without me helping." Inuyasha suggested.

Kagome puffed her cheeks as she pouted. "_That's_ because you wouldn't help, baka." She said in annoyance. She sighed, "But that's probably it, right? Nothing else… hopefully."

Inuyasha nodded, but was glad she didn't remember any of the stupid stuff he had done or at the moment he would be five feet underground. She sighed and stood up before him with a serious look on her face, serious, yet calm and he knew that he had thought too soon.

"Inuyasha," she said all too sweetly, and Inuyasha couldn't help but look at her scared with the sudden sweet talk. "Sit!" she yelled, "sit, sit, sit, sit, SIT!"

There was a series of bangs and a long pained groan that accompanied it. "And that was for all the trouble you put me through today! I can't believe how stupid you could be sometimes," she said frustrated, "I bet you anything that either Hatori or Shigure could see I was acting nervously and not myself and probably Yuki too. Haru, Kyou and Tohru are either too stupid or dense to see that. And you should've kept an eye out for Hatori and made sure he didn't follow," she started whining, "Now Shigure definitely knows something is up."

Inuyasha groaned from his crater in the ground and sat up rubbing his aching neck since it is the necklace that actually pulls him down. "Shouldn't we worrying about more important stuff," he said in a pained voice.

"What do you mean?"

He sighed. "The demon, what did he say? And also, I forgot to mention that when I came from the well, there was a different demon," he said getting a frown from her, "He attacked me saying that he'd be after you. You have to be more careful. No doubt any demon that might have been around the areas I went passed looking for you had sensed the jewel."

She frowned in thought. "The Higurashi Shrine," she said, a pang of hurt stung in her chest as she remembered her old home. She took a deep breath before continuing on, despite the hurt she felt remembering the Shrine and memories that had been there, "The… shrine is very far from here," she said, her fists clenched tightly in her lap, "That means demons from there to here would have been able to have felt the jewel."

Inuyasha frowned. "Yeah, and that means you have to be more careful now."

She nodded. "Demons have gotten smarter this day and age." She said sighing a little, "That means they won't attack me recklessly without thinking it through. Plus, some have matured over centuries and that means their intelligence _might _go far beyond mine."

Inuyasha looked at her insecurely. "Are you going to be alright, wench?"

"Of course she's going to be alright," a stern voice came from the doorway and both head turned to the speaker. "This Sesshoumaru will protect her."

"As will I!" Shippou said grinning from behind Sesshoumaru. "Hey Inuyasha, haven't seen you in quite a while. It's me, Shippou."

"Shippou?" Inuyasha said in disbelief as he stared at the, now, grown demon. "You're the brat?"

Kagome smiled a little. As she leaned back as they got reacquainted with one another. Despite the earlier situation, she thought of informing them later and just relaxing for now. She needn't have them worry for her. She was a demon now. She held power and strength to defend herself properly. She would not let them get involved unless the situation forces her to get them involved. She could protect the Shikon no Tama without causing trouble.

She looked at the smiling/stoic faces of her non-related family as they talked. Her hand tightened around the jewel in her pocket. She'd protect them by herself, no matter what.

And then she realised something. "Oh crap," she said suddenly remembering something as everyone looked at her. "I forgot to modify his memories!"

-U-

A couple of weeks have passed since Kagome last visited the small Sohma household. Oddly, it was a quiet breakfast. Shigure was looking over his newspaper as Kyou, Yuki and Tohru.

"I haven't seen Kagome since she last came here," Tohru said a little worried. "She hasn't been at school either. I overheard two guys talking, saying that she's been away for two weeks."

Shigure froze as he heard that. What had happened? Did she run away? But she doesn't know about the curse right? She couldn't have run away, not when they had just found someone who could hug them without transforming. He slowly moved the newspaper away from his face and looked at Tohru with slight apprehension. "You mean, she's been skipping classes?"

She nodded as Kyou decided to speak up. "I heard that they tried to call her house, but the maids continue to say she isn't home, that she only comes home to sleep at night," he said, a frown marring his features.

Shigure and Yuki frowned. "Where did you hear that?" Yuki asked, "And what could she possibly be doing during the day that makes it important enough for her to not attend school?"

Shigure smiled. "I don't know, but its time for you three to get to school yourselves, don't you think?" he replied. But all in all, he was actually worried with this new information. He needed to call Hatori later.

"Ah!" Tohru exclaimed, realising the time, "Shigure-san's right. We're going to be late!"

-U-

Hatori woke up sleepily as he heard the phone ring. He usually wasn't one to sleep in late, but late at night one of the Sohma ladies had gotten sick and had called Hatori to look over her. Such a job for a doctor.

Hatori picked up the phone and greeted whoever was on the other side and mentally groaned when he heard of who it was. "Shigure, what do you want?" he said blandly.

"Oh, Ha-san is being mean," Shigure whined on the other side before actually becoming serious. "I called in because it's about Kagome." Hatori frowned when he heard that and Shigure continued on knowing that Hatori was listening. "Apparently she hasn't been to school since last time she visited our home."

Hatori sat down on a chair as he heard that. "You mean she's missing, or just skipping?" he asked, drowning the information he was gathering.

"Skipping," he said, "I heard from Kyou that she returns every night to sleep, but that's about it." There was a short pause in the other end and when Hatori was about to speak up again, Shigure spoke up first. "Do you think it has something about the day you followed her, but have no memory of?"

Hatori leaned back on the chair he was sitting on as he thought. "Maybe," he said and sighed, "And remember the first time we arrived at her house. She knew what animals we were, but she said it in a way that made it look as if she had just combined animals to our personalities rather than knowing what we hold." Hatori sighed, "I think she knows more than she leads on."

There was a silence and Hatori know that Shigure agreed with him. "Does Aya know?" Shigure finally asked.

"No," he said, "Akito suspects something with her though. He's demanding to bring Kagome to see him. Unfortunately, when she came to visit me Akito saw her. I have to go to her place to retrieve her soon. And also, I felt it better that Ayame does not know what we know. Although I can trust him, the less people that know, the less chance of being found out." There was another slight pause, "Shigure, remember, you're the one who suggested we spy on her. Be careful in not being caught."

"I know," Shigure replied somewhat solemnly, "Just make sure Akito doesn't do anything bad to her."

Hatori nodded absentmindedly, before he remembered he was on the phone. "Yeah, anyway, I have to get going soon," he said standing with a slight yawn, "See you Shigure."

-U-

Kagome stared at the two demons before here, a bit nerved. "Aren't you two supposed to be at school?" she asked them dryly, "Why are you here, Kai-kun, Kenji-kun?" She had her hands in her hips. She had felt their presence a little while ago and was nerved that they could think they could follow her. She hadn't left the gate of her house.

"You weren't at school for two weeks," Kai answered with a frown and a slight pout.

"We doubted that you were sick like they say, and decided to follow you." Kenji continued. "You seem in good health to be sick."

She smirked as realisation dawned on her. "Oh, you mean you two were _worried_ about me," she laughed a little, "Don't worry, I'm fine. Besides Inuyasha, Shippou, Sesshoumaru and Kirara keep me company sometimes. When one or the other aren't busy."

Kenji had the curtesy to blush, "No," he said with arms crossed and a visible pout, "We weren't worried. Weren't we, Kai? Kai?" Kenji looked at Kai questioningly, who seemed frozen up.

"Inuyasha?" Kai asked with wide eyes, "You mean _the_ Inuyasha that has been dead for about a century."

She chuckled. "Never mind what Inuyasha it is," she said in a light manner, "I'm just saying for both of you to get back to school."

"And where are you going?" Kenji asked, "You should be at school too."

She sighed audibly just as a car drove up to her and with this she raised an eyebrow. She recognised the car to belong to Sohma Hatori. Now what would Sohma Hatori be doing here? Surely, he's not here for the same reason as Kai and Kenji. So why on Earth was he here?

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**_And that is the end of that chapter. It took me a while and couldn't find the best way to end it. Haha gomen for such a weird ending. Lol, anyways, reviews helps -nudge nudge- I like reviews xD Anyways, yeah, say if it was good, bad or just plain weird._**

**_-SxT_**


	6. Ever changing moods

**Hi people, and welcome back to another chapter. I am deeply sorry for the wait. n.n;; I hope this chapter is good enough. I'm not sure... anyway...

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Chapter six: Ever changing moods 

Kagome watched as Hatori opened the door of his car as he took a step out into the sunlight. His hair gently swayed in the wind as he held up his hand to shield himself from the sunlight before looking at her, stoic expression ever so present. He put his arm down as he closed the car to the door as he walked to Kagome.

"Kagome-san," he said and she gave him a small smile. "Good morning."

"Good morning to you too Hatori-san," she replied with a slight bow. "What brings you here today?"

Hatori seemed to ponder on this before he noticed the two 'teens' behind Kagome. "Shouldn't they be at school?" he asked and frowned, "And why haven't you been at school lately? I heard from Shigure that you haven't been to school and since I'm a doctor I thought I'd pay you a visit. It doesn't even look like you're sick."

Kagome smelt the lie in the air and knew he had come for a different reason. She leaned back on the wall that surrounded her house and stared at him silently before answering. "Dogs have good senses," she saw him stiffen a bit, "I was born in the year of the dog and know when there is a lie and even if that doesn't make any connection with anything right now, there is still no reason for you to be here," she said crossing her arms, her hair blowing in the wind and it did not help, but make her look dangerous, with the leather jacket and all. "You are not my doctor, I did not call you to check on me and besides you are the Sohma's family doctor." She said hotly, "And the reason I'm not at school neither yours or anyone else's business." She glared at Kenji and Kai, "And return to school before I tell Sesshoumaru and Shippou."

The two stiffened at the mention of their names before resigning to actually listening to her and nodded and walked off in a huff. She stared at them until she was sure they were gone and headed off to school before looking at Hatori. "Now, Hatori-san," she said, serious, "I hate lies. Tell me honestly, why are you here?"

Hatori sighed and honestly wondered how she could tell if a person was lying or not. If you knew the person well, sure, you could see if the person was lying or not, but this was only his third meeting with her and she couldn't possibly know if he was lying or not. "I am here because Akito-sama has requested to see you," he said honestly, "I am here to take you to the main house."

She nodded at his honest reply before taking out her mobile phone from her leather jacket. "Okay, just wait a minute," she said flipping her phone open, "I'll have to tell the others." He nodded, but she wasn't looking as she put the phone to her ear. She seemed agitated for some odd reason.

"Hello? Sesshoumaru?" she said to the phone and Hatori's ears perked at the sound of the billionaire's name, "Is Shippou, Inuyasha and Kirara with you right now?" she asked into the phone before silence consumed for a couple of seconds. "Okay, good, you can call them to say that the meeting's cancelled for today. Sohma Akito, head of the Sohma, has requested to see me… Why do I sound angry? That's because dearest Kenji and Kai decided to pay me a visit and was intent on staying home before I sent them right back." She let out a long sigh before she began to speak again. "No, no, Sesshou-nii, don't punish them, they're back at school. Anyway, I send my regards to the others because Hatori-san is here already. Ja ne."

She took the phone off her ear and pressed the red hang up button, in a much lighter mood than before. She looked at Hatori. "Sorry about that," she said as he led her to the car, "But they would've torn through, even hell, had I not called to say I was coming," she said lightly as she opened the door to the passenger seat, "I mean, the world is dangerous these days." _And demons roam around for the jewel…_ she thought to herself.

Hatori looked at her oddly before turning on the car, the air around him suddenly serious. "Akito-sama… is quite dangerous," he said as he drove off. "He is the head of our family," _the head of our curse_, was left unsaid as he continued "And he demands respect."

Kagome sighed and nodded, continuing to listen, her mood sobering up. "Do not do anything to anger him and bow low on the ground when you enter and only raise your head when he demands it," he continued and she growled lowly, Hatori not hearing it.

"Akito… _-sama_," she said lightly, although she was actually angry, "Is he the man that hurt you before?"

Hatori did not answer, his knuckles turning white as he gripped harder on the steering wheel. "That was my fault," he said finally, "Had I not left he wouldn't have been angry with me."

She frowned. "But using such a violent way of punishing…" her eyes glowed, a tinge of red seeping through, however, Hatori remained oblivious to that very fact, "Is really unacceptable."

He frowned, feeling most unsure then than he had his entire life. "Kagome," he said as he parked up in the driveway of the Sohma estate, "I warn you, do not do anything that… would harm you," he said, "Or something that may end up harming us."

She sighed and nodded understandingly. "Fine," she said a bit tight-lipped, "As long as he doesn't do anything unreasonable." Hatori nodded, but he had a bad feeling about this.

-U-

Sesshoumaru sighed as the line on the other end of the phone was shut closed. He stared at the phone for a minute before contacting the others that the meeting was cancelled. He frowned, though, a little while later. The Sohma's were getting far too involved with Kagome. They were liabilities. If the enemy found out they could surely use this against the miko-demon.

Kagome did not want these people involved and thus, stopped coming to school and giving the cold shoulder, but now, the head of the Sohma family had wished to see her and Sesshoumaru assumed that since it was the head asking, she had decided not to be disrespectful and decided to visit him.

He stared at the page that had just loaded up in his laptop, eyes narrowing a bit. He knew Kagome well and knew that she wasn't angry because Kenji and Kai had decided to visit her on whim that she might actually be sick. No, she was angry because of something else. _Because of this Akito…_ He leaned back on his seat staring at the page intently.

_The head of the Sohma house,_ he thought to himself. He scrolled down the page and frowned. The picture… Had he not known any better, he would've thought the head was a guy, but his resources never lie to him. The fact the Akito was acting like a male seemed suspicious in itself. Why the head of the household had done that he'd never know. But the fact that everyone seemed to be oblivious to it…

He stood up and decided on something. "I'll be out for today," he told secretary coldly as he walked out, ignoring her stuttered 'Y-yes sir,' as he continued on.

Hiding her gender from her own relatives. His eyes narrowed as he drove to his intended destination.

There was something definitely different with the Sohma's.

-U-

Kagome had her head bowed low onto the ground before Akito. She gritted her teeth quietly. She hated bowing to people like this, especially when they don't deserve her respect, but for Hatori and for others that may get hurt because of her _disrespect_ for their head, she had decided to play along for now. She didn't care if this person struck her, because she knew it wouldn't even hurt, but she would never forgive herself if they got punished because of her.

"You may look up," Akito said and so she did. Defiant brown met with dark teal. The eyes that seemed to be raging inside the person like a forest in the nighttime. Where creatures crawl out and trap the person within them. Sohma Akito seemed to be trapped in the curse that bound her since she was born and Kagome could clearly sense that.

But that gave no reason for the head to hurt her own relatives if things did not go her way.

"I hear that you are the cousin of Honda Tohru," Akito said lightly as if they were friends, but Kagome was not fooled. "You seem to be very good friends with my family."

Kagome forced a smile upon her face, which, to her, felt strained and knew that Akito could see it. "Of course. Tohru-san does live with them, I was bound to be friends with them." She could sense the distressed spirit of the sea horse behind her and she added, "Akito-_sama_."

Akito heard the mocking tone in the word '-sama' and clenched her fists before an echoing slap resounded throughout the room. "Do you not know how to use respect for people higher than you?" yelled Akito, angry.

Kagome held in her anger. The slap only gave a slight sting, not even, but someone like her dare hit her… That was what truly mad inside. How dare a lowly human like this Akito dare to hit her? If it hadn't been for the others that would get hurt Akito would be probably be hanging in midair by the neck. Ah, Kagome had hung around with Sesshoumaru too much. She took a calming breath and looked Akito in the eye and forced a smile on her face. "Please forgive me for the disrespect, Akito-sama."

Akito seemed satisfied with this as she sat in front of the demon-miko. "I hear you can hold Hatori."

Upon hearing that, Kagome was confused. "Hold?" she questioned incredulously, "Of course I can hold him. Like every other person in this world I'm sure… Akito-sama." She said quickly adding the dark leader's name. Dark, because there seemed to be a looming darkness about the head of Sohma.

Suddenly, Akito slapped Kagome again, but this time on the other side of her face. _Damn_, Kagome thought to herself, _that actually hurt this time._ "Do you think I'm stupid?" Akito shrieked, "You know _something_! And you dare act stupid in front of me? To someone with more power!"

Wow, now really, that was really modest. Already on the verge of letting out her full anger, Kagome's eyes bled red, but did not turn or say anything to Akito. A low growl emitted from her throat. Hatori, on the other hand, was frozen on the spot. What could he do? If he interfered, she may just be getting more than just a slap. His fists clenched in his lap, as he stayed there, feeling helpless. An image of Kana crying in his mind. He couldn't do anything.

A dark chuckle came from Kagome as she turned to Akito, who, now, stood frozen in place at the sight of the markings in her face and blazing red eyes… Her demon had broken through, but not fully. She stood up and grabbed the front of Akito's yukata, pulling the _God _close to her. "People that are higher than _me_?" she said darkly, her sharp fangs showing, "You are _far_ from being higher than _me _in this world, Akito. Leaders that harms their own people _cannot_ be called a leader."

Hatori's eyes widened in shock at the guts she had to go up against her, but of course, he cannot see her face due to being seated behind her. Akito, on the other hand, had her eyes widened in fear. Fear that she might actually die this day if she did something to anger her further.

"Speechless?" she said smugly, "You're trembling," she stated in a bored tone as she let go, making Akito fall to the ground in front of her. "You're not worth my time," she said as her eyes and features turned back to normal, "if this is what you mean by leadership."

Suddenly she heard ruckus outside as the doors opened to reveal one pissed off dog demon, followed by servants of this household trying to stop him from coming in.

"Sesshoumaru-nii," she said blandly. The demon stared at her for a while before he calmed down and looked at Kagome questioningly. Kagome understood the look and shrugged. She knew he felt her very angry power spike, "I got angry. The head of the Sohma household does not know the meaning of leadership."

Hatori felt like the situation could not get any worse. Kagome had just openly insulted Akito, and here, a billionaire had barged in like he was about to kill someone.

"How _dare_ you!" Akito said angrily, fear forgotten for now because of the open insult. Human or not, no one dared insult Akito. "You know _nothing _about us! How _dare_ you say that _I _do not know the meaning of leadership! You do not even _know_ the way we work you insolent fool!"

Kagome turned to glare at Akito, her leather jacket and black pants, her hair down and her glaring eyes, made her seem part of something dangerous, something that could be like the yakuza. "I know more than I let on," she said, "When I said that we are higher than you in status, I meant it. If you ever came to my side," she growled, "You'd never survive. You would be just like Jaken. Actually, lower than him."

Hatori was confused by her words, but did not say anything. He knew it, it was a mistake to bring her here, but even if he could stop Akito, or Kagome, he would never hear the end of it later. If he had not brought Kagome, it would seem suspicious to Akito. Hatori knew that he had seen Kagome in the household almost two weeks ago and he had made a mistake to inform him that Kagome could actually hold the zodiac without making them transform. This was his fault.

What Sesshoumaru said next, surprised both Hatori and Akito.

"She's cutting all ties with the Sohma's," Sesshoumaru said, standing next to her form. Somehow, Hatori's heart clenched when he heard that. She was cutting all ties…? Why? He caught her eye and he felt as if his heart froze. Her eyes were so icy… so cold. "She tried to do so quietly, but still you Sohma's interfere in her life."

"And what about Tohru?" Akito said, "She's your cousin and she lives with the Sohma's. Surely, you wouldn't stop visiting her." She said all too smugly, like she won something. She couldn't let Kagome slip off yet. She had humiliated her so many times today. She wasn't letting go that easily.

Kagome glared, knowing what the God of the zodiacs was thinking. "You think I didn't think this through?" she said, "I'm cutting ties with her too. Why else would I bother not to visit or go to school for two weeks in a row? I lived without her throughout my whole life. I think I can survive if I cut ties with her."

"Why?" Hatori said, desperate at the fact that his chest felt like it was about to explode. He didn't want her to cut herself from them. From _him._ Whenever she was with him, she made the air seem much lighter and he did not realise that until now. "You said you'd see us all again to me and Shigure. Was that a lie?"

She turned to Hatori and her once icy eyes softened and she smiled sadly. "Because I don't want anyone to get involved," she said lowly to herself, but Hatori heard. What did she mean '_involved_'? She, then, said louder, looking at both Hatori and Akito all the while covering the fact she said something beforehand, "I'm here right now, ain't I? Heh, you all _irritate _me. All at once you come into my life and expect me to welcome you," she growled, but Hatori could see the pain in her eyes as she said that, although Akito could not. She smirked malevolently, but it didn't reach her eyes. "You must be joking." She looked Hatori squarely in the eyes, "Just don't interfere anymore."

Sesshoumaru looked at both of them, "If I hear any kind of Sohma bothering _my_ little sister," he said in warning, "This Sesshoumaru will not let this go and you would be regretting ever passing paths with us."

Akito seethed in anger, but was not foolish enough to anger the billionaire, nor the demonic miko. Hatori, on the other hand, felt a loss of words. He knew Kagome had not meant what she said. No one irritated her. Silence consumed the dark place before Kagome looked up at Sesshoumaru. "Sesshou-nii, let's go," she said quietly, "I'm sick of this place." Her and Hatori's eyes met once more before she turned swiftly and walked out.

Sesshoumaru nodded and left with Kagome at his side, but not before glaring one last time at both Sohma's behind him in warning before he led Kagome to his car.

Kagome let out a sigh of relief as soon as she was in the car. "I think I went overboard, but I really got angry back there," she mumbled to herself, "But seriously, that Akito chick, even if she did have a bad curse upon herself does not give her the right to punish people as she pleases."

"So you knew she was a girl?" Sesshoumaru said with light amusement as he drove away.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course, by her scent." She looked over to Sesshoumaru, "By the way, why did you come to the household today?"

Sesshoumaru kept his eyes on the road as he shrugged. "I originally wanted to come and see if I could gather information of why she acts like a boy and no one knows she's a girl. It seemed a bit suspicious, and normally I wouldn't bother, but since they keep in contact with you, I thought to investigate it."

She smiled at his concern. "Well, the reasons may be personal nii-san, so I don't think I need to know the reasons of why she is the way she is." She sighed as she stared out the window, "But the curse is really something. I wonder what happens when it's triggered."

Sesshoumaru chuckled. "Perhaps, since they contain spirits of ancient animals in their bodies," he said, "They turn to animals."

Kagome smiled. "That'd be a sight to see." She said as she imagined Hatori as a sea horse before laughing. "Definitely a sight to see."

-U-

"_Die demon!" a female voice shouted, her voice filled with a large amount of pain._

_Eyes widened in horror as he watched his master fall, his eyes watering. "NO!" he yelled and glared at the figures that had killed him, angry tears in his eyes, "I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU! YOU'LL REGRET THE DAY YOU KILLED HIM!"_

_No one heard him, and he seethed, but he wasn't stupid enough to charge at them now. Even if they were weak, they were still far stronger than him. He would get them, he would get them, kill them and torture them slowly and make them regret ever killing his master._

_He'd kill them all and use the Shikon no Tama to wish his master back to life. That was a promise he wasn't going to break._

Dark purple eyes opened as he remembered that memory from five hundred years ago when the jewel made its presence known again. A sigh left his mouth before he sat up and looked out his window. A smirk adorned his face as he saw the enemy get out of the car.

_Perfect_, he thought to himself. He found her weakness. But he wouldn't use it to his advantage yet. It was far too early and she was high on guard. To do something now, it was like sending a rat in a lion's cage.

He stood up and walked gracefully through the halls to one of the rooms, opening a portal into the Sohma estate, not that anyone would see and walked through the empty hallways. He softly knocked on the door and said softly. "Rin-chan?"

The door opened slightly before a gasp was heard and the door was open fully. "You. What are you doing here?" she asked as she quickly pulled him in and checked if the hallways were empty before closing the door and glaring at the man. "What are you doing here? Are you insane?"

The man ignored her, as he seemed to be in deep thought. "How's Hatsuharu-san? Are you still trying to rid yourself the curse?" he asked and she winced when she heard that.

She crossed her arms and looked away. "What does it matter to you?" She looked at him critically, "Seriously, if you're caught in here I'm a dead woman. Now, spill, what do you want?" She snapped at him, only because fear had gripped her heart. If Akito found out someone, other than the usual Sohma and servants, was there she was in deep shit.

He chuckled as he moved his own golden locks out of his eyes. "Rin-chan," he said as he leaned back onto the wall. "I need your help, but of course, I won't ask for it for free. I know how to get rid of the curse and if you help me," he said smiling at her shocked figure, "I will help you back."

"You… how do you know…" she was speechless, before the words dawned back onto her as realisation came crashing onto her hard. "_You_ just want to use me," she hissed, "What makes you think I would _believe_ that crap!"

He grinned. He had expected that reaction and knew it would be tough convincing her, but out of all the Sohma's, he knew Sohma Rin was the most motivated to rid the family curse and this was because of a certain _cow_. "Believe me," he said, unfazed by her obvious anger, "How else would I know of the Sohma curse," he smirked at her trembling figure and moved so fast behind her and leaned down so his breath was right by her ear. He smirked and whispered, "I know how the curse began… and," she turned around in shock, her heart beating fast. He grinned, fangs showing, "And I know how it will end. So are you willing to help me?"

Rin glared before sighing and giving in. If this were true, she'd have to take her chances. "Fine, what is it?"

-U-

"That ugly girl," Akito said as Hatori gazed out the door, "She's not even pretty." He ranted and Hatori turned his attention back to Akito, but what he said next startled Hatori, "She's not even _human_." He narrowed his eyes and looked at Hatori. "I want you to keep a close eye on her. Tell me what she does, but make sure not to be caught."

Hatori nodded, if not, a little hesitant. After all, it was the billionaire in their household threatening them. "Yes, Akito-sama," he said with a slight bow. When this was over and done with, he knew he needed a nice long smoke.

-U-

"I'm annoyed," Kagome said glaring at the inanimate object in front of her. It had been now about a month since her last encounter with any of the Sohma. She, with Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, Shippou and Kirara, were seated at a table and were discussing on what they could do to protect her. Honestly, they were just a bit over protective sometimes.

Sesshoumaru had already taken it upon himself to spar with her every now and then, even train. Inuyasha had become somewhat like an overprotective bodyguard. Shippou has made it his duty to keep track on the Sohma's, to tell her if they were okay or not since they didn't know exactly how much the enemy knew about them. And Kirara, as beautiful as she was, refused to let Kagome go alone to shopping and such.

Kirara. Her humanoid form was beautiful. She had light coloured hair tipped with brown, reaching her shoulders, she had creamy smooth skin and her eyes were red and it wasn't a scary red. She was a tall lady that looked of elegance and grace. She was a beautiful, one of a kind and, in her eyes, perfect for her adopted son. When she spoke, her voice was harmonious and kind. Truly, Kagome didn't think her son could find any better.

"Why are you annoyed Kagome-sama?" Kirara asked the annoyed demon priestess.

Kagome looked at Kirara and sighed. "I told you not to use any formalities with me Kirara. You're my friend, I'd appreciate if you just said 'Kagome'," she said with a light smile before answering the actual question. "What annoys me is that we've been preparing for any sort of attack for quite a while, yet nothing happens, and then there's the Sohma's and Akito, I have no doubt, despite Sesshou-nii's warning would try to do something about me cutting ties with them and no doubt, my homeroom teacher may start to be getting worried if I stop attending class _and _we have _no_ idea in who our enemy is."

Everything was quiet as they stared at Kagome in somewhat surprise. "Was there," Shippou said a bit amused, "_Any_ full stops in there at all? You spoke in, like, one breath."

Kagome blushed in embarrassment as laughter started around the room. "St-stop laughing," she sighed, "It's true though, we don't know our enemy."

The laughter subsided and they contemplated for a bit. "Tch, we'll find out eventually," Inuyasha said bored, leaning on an arm, palm against his cheek. "After all, its their plan to attack us, is it not?"

Sesshoumaru frowned. "But this Sesshoumaru thinks that something is not right," he informed them of his concerns, "The enemy is… too quiet and demons have been attacking less and less and the jewel isn't dormant anymore. This Sesshoumaru thinks the enemy is planning something big."

"Actually," Shippou said, "I found something quite interesting in the newspaper yesterday." This caught everyone's attention, "There have been a lot of murders around the path Inuyasha took when he arrived here. Also, children in some schools have fainted and gone into a coma. And it isn't a small amount of children either."

"So the enemy is taking their time?" Kagome said with a sigh before getting up. "I'm going for a walk… _alone_," she said as soon as she saw Inuyasha about to stand. "I can take care of myself. After all," she gave a sly smirk, "I am a dog _demon_." And with that she exited her house and walked towards the park.

She pocketed her hands, not thinking about where she was walking and soon the sound of children laughing could be heard. She knew then that she was at the park. She sat on a bench by the footpath and relished the fresh air as she closed her eyes.

Peace. Finally. Since they had been aware there was an enemy lurking in the shadows, her 'family' did not seem to want to leave her alone. As if she would disappear in a moment. Her eyes snapped open when she felt a tiger demon. It was weak, but it was there and using her senses to find the demon. Her surprise was unmasked when she found a small tiger behind the bushes, staring at her.

Kagome reached out to touch the animal to see if it was real and was caught by surprise when its jaws clamped around her hand. She slowly pulled out her hand and watched in morbid fascination as her hand healed and looked back at the tiger.

"Looks like your real," she said with a smile, "You're a cute, if not a troublesome little thing. What's a tiger demon like you doing here, huh?" she said before she frowned at the distressed signals she got from the little tiger, "And you seem sick."

Avoiding the jaws, she picked us the tiger and brought it face to face, before grinning. "And you're so cute. Okay, it's decided, I'll take care of you until you're better." She felt the tiger struggling to get away, but no way was she letting the poor defenceless creature go. "No, no, there are too many strong demons out that would, in no doubt, devour you."

With that, she walked off towards her home, but not before she picked up a familiar aura. She looked back and saw the very person she told to keep away. Not too far, Hatori stood, with shock written on his face as he looked from the tiger to Kagome, back to the tiger. She held the tiger closer, despite how it its jaw managed to bite her hand again.

She stared at Hatori a moment longer before turning away to walk away.

"Kagome, wait!"

* * *

**_Gah, I'm sorry if that was bad!! It took so long to write, but the next chapter is where the real story begins. I swear xD. Anyway, I hope this story wasn't so bad. Anyway, review and tell me what you think. I can't improve my story if people don't tell me if they like it or not. xD. hahahaha, anyway._**

**_-SxT_**


	7. Fever

**_My God people, I'm so sorry, but now that I'm on my last year of high school and in VCE it's really hard to get time to write the story between homework and work, but I managed and hope you continue to stick with this story. I'm not sure if this chapter is good. Oh Jesus, I hope this chapter is alright... Anyways..._**

* * *

**C****hapter seven:**** Fever**

She was always there, in his mind. He couldn't understand why he couldn't just forget her. But then Akito had ordered him to watch her. And that he did. He had parked near, but not too near to her house and waited. He watched Sesshoumaru and others enter and leave her house. Every once and a while she would leave for shopping, Shippou's wife along with her. It was as if they were all guarding her. Watching her with great worry and concern. Something was happening and he didn't know what.

Finally, a month after she had last talked to them, she left her house and for once she was _alone._ It was rare to catch her alone and was about to get out of the car and follow her when his mobile phone rang and he cursed under his breath as he reached and answered the small device.

"Hello?" he said with his usual annoyed tone.

"_Ah, Hatori,"_ the voice of the dog zodiac came through and Hatori's brow twitched. _"Apparently Kisa's missing and she has a fever and Haru and the rest are worried she might have turned into a tiger."_

"What?" Hatori said frowning, "Where do you think she is?"

"_The park,_" Shigure said, _"Well, that's the only indication we've got and since we know you were nearer to the park than we are, we thought we'd ring you up for you to go ahead and get her, before we catch up."_

Hatori sighed. "Alright." And he hung up and drove away towards the park, passing Kagome, who was walking so determinedly away from the house to somewhere else. When he arrived at the park, he met up with Hiro, the young sheep zodiac. He looked annoyed more than panicked and he was holding, what Hatori thought to be, Kisa's clothes. "What happened?" He asked the young boy.

But Hiro was truly worried. After Kisa abruptly changed as they were walking home, she had run off in panic. The reason they were going back in the middle of the day was because she was beginning to feel sick and they couldn't risk her turning into a tiger in the classroom. "She transformed because she was sick. She's around here somewhere, but I can't find her." Hiro explained to the doctor.

Hatori nodded. "Where have you looked?"

Hiro pointed at a random direction. "I looked over there, but I can't find her."

Hatori sighed. "Okay then, I'll go this way," he said pointing ahead of him, "You search at this direction. Shigure and the others will be here soon to help out." Hiro nodded in understanding, running the opposite way as Hatori walked the direction he assigned himself to.

Walking, he could see parents playing with very young children since the older ones were at school. He searched looking between bushes and trees, ditches and rocks. He sighed and stared straight ahead.

And he stopped.

His heart beat faster as he saw the girl who he thought would never look at him again, her brown eyes searching, her raven coloured hair swayed to the wind. It was then that movement in her arms caught his attention and his heart froze when he saw the tiger.

Kisa! Kagome had Kisa! Kisa, who was sick with a fever and was bound to turn human anytime soon. Hatori looked from the tiger to Kagome, back at the tiger and then back at Kagome. Seeing this, Kagome glared and held the tiger closer and Hatori felt slight alarm as he saw Kisa bite her hand, but Kagome looked like she couldn't even feel it as she turned away.

"Kagome, wait!" the words came out of his mouth before he could think, his heart beating fast that he could hear it in his ears. He needed to stop her, yet he was nervous. Why? The reason was unclear and Kisa lay in her arms. He also felt that one wrong move would be deadly… somehow.

Kagome stopped in her tracks and looked at Hatori, hurt and anger evident in her eyes. "What Hatori-san? Sesshoumaru warned you to keep away and I'm sure you don't want to feel his wrath." He could hear. Her voice wavered a bit and her eyes were now downcast at the young tiger biting her hand. "There are many dangers when it comes to me." She looked up at him with a glare, "So, what on Earth do you want?"

Hatori opened his mouth, then closed it at a loss of words before he said, "Th-the tiger. She's mine. My cousin was playing with her before she ran off." He said looking at Kisa, who was weakly struggling to get to Hatori in Kagome's arms.

Kagome looked at the struggling tiger, her eyes blank, before she said, "I can't return her until I know she would get better. You may come along if you want." He flinched. There was something in the tone of her voice that he didn't like. It slightly hurt him.

"I-I can't. Kisa… she…"

Kagome glared at him. "I'm taking her with me. You can come, take it or leave it, but I'm going to bring her home, because there are skilled… veterinarians that can look at her." She failed to mention that those so-called 'veterinarians' were specialised in any kind of demon sickness. She looked at him before turning away and Hatori followed after her, unable to do anything until there was a chance to take Kisa back.

"Can I just have the tiger back?" He attempted again as they walked nearer to her house. "Please, the tiger is special to us." _And we would be punished if she learned of their curse._ Hatori thought to himself worriedly.

She glanced at him before looking back ahead, "All the more reason to get her checked to see if she's okay, since she's special to you." She said having an idea that Akito was behind his pleading, "Anyway, we're at my house already," she said and Hatori realised she was right as she walked through the gate with her.

Hatori could sense it. Kisa had been in her tiger form for far too long. It would only be a matter of time before she turned back into her human form. "Kagome," he said almost desperate this time, "I'm serious. I could take care of her on my own, without your help. I'm a doctor."

She looked at him, turning to him just before her front door and Hatori noticed that her hand was uninjured, despite Kisa's biting earlier on. "You seem to mistake that I'm doing this for you," she said, "I'm doing this for the tiger, since she is sick. I found her and I can't be completely sure that she's yours. Also, yes, I agree you're a doctor, but you aren't a veterinarian. You help humans, not animals. Now, are you coming in or not?"

Hatori sighed, knowing now it would be hopeless to argue or reason with her for Kisa back, he followed the woman into her house, the maids bowing as both he and Kagome passed by. As they passed a door that was wide open he saw who he least didn't expect to see in the house at the moment. Sesshoumaru. He shouldn't be surprised actually, but Hatori thought he was a far too be busy man to be always with Kagome… but then again, it was probably just him. And wasn't that Inuyasha with dog ears on top his head? But he couldn't be too sure since they had only passed the room.

A 'poof' alerted him out of his thoughts and he was brought back to his situation and he panicked and quickly remembering that Kisa would be naked he took off his jacket and ran into the cloud of smoke that would soon and quickly dissipate. He blindly grabbed Kisa's arm and pulled her into his jacket and covered the sick girl in it.

"What the hell?" Kagome's unmistakeable voice as confusion took over her and she looked at Hatori who she saw now was holding a sick naked girl wrapped in his jacket. He was cursing to himself as he lifted the small girl. "Who's that girl and what…" she trailed off as Kagome felt the tiger demon spirit reside in her and she sighed. "So, that's what happens," she laughed like she couldn't believe the situation, "Sesshoumaru was right after all. You do turn into the animals in you, even if that was a joke."

"Huh?" Hatori was half listening as he thought of a way to get out this mess as Kisa leaned onto Hatori weakly in her fever. All he could think of was to erase her memories… And everyone else that is here that saw. Still in his shock he did not realise that Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Kirara and Shippou had come out of the room to see what the commotion was about.

Kagome narrowed her eyes and could only guess what his thoughts were. She knew he had the power to erase one's memories, so she wasn't dumb. Hatori's look said it all. She glared then turned to walk away, but on second thought she decided to glance back. "I'm immune to your memory erasing," she lied and Hatori stiffened. "Fine, go. That's what you wanted to do, right? Return to Akito and stay out. But leave the girl here. I'll see to it that she be healed and return her safely back to you. I am not one to leave a person in need of help."

Suddenly, Hatori felt pain breaking into his once ice heart. He shook his head. "No, Kagome, that's not what I meant when I was trying to get Kisa…" He paused thinking about what he could do, "…Can I stay here with you… until Kisa is better. That way she wont be scared when she realises that she doesn't know where she is."

Kagome looked at him with a frown before sighing. "Machi!" she called and one of the maids came to her quickly and bowed saying 'Kagome-sama, what can I do for you?' Kagome looked at her thinking where to put Hatori and his sick niece. "Give them the guest room near the Phoenix."

The maid's eyes widened and Hatori thought about what that could mean. "But Kagome-sama," she protested, but Kagome cut in before the maid could continue on. "Are you questioning my orders?"

"N-no, sorry Kagome-sama. I'll prepare the room immediately," with that the maid scurried off.

A chuckle was heard and Hatori froze, realising for the first time, Sesshoumaru and the others were there. "Kagome, you've been with me far too long." Sesshoumaru said as she rolled her eyes, "You've developed some of my persona." He looked at Hatori critically before speaking, "And didn't this Sesshoumaru tell you to keep away from Kagome?"

"Y-yes! But she's got my niece and…" Hatori stumbled over his words. True, this wasn't the usual him, but anyone who was approached by the regal figure of this billionaire would practically lose their cool.

She sighed and walked up to Hatori. "Nice excuse, we're not blind not to notice you watching me for quite a while now." Hatori turned to Kagome, wide-eyed. She shook her head and held out her arms. "Anyway, give me the tiger girl," she said softly as she looked at the sick form, "I'll bring her to a room and get her dressed appropriately. You can follow and check on her once she's in bed."

Hatori nodded, dumbfounded and handed the sick girl to Kagome, who carried the child with care and walked the direction where the maid had scurried off. Kagome looked at the child in her arms and put a palm on her forehead still carrying her. "Sorry little one," she said, "Sorry you had to wait. We'll get you better soon." She said as she entered the room and changed her into some spare nightclothes.

Hatori then came in to check on her. Kagome stayed by him as he did. He looked up at her. "Her fever is high, but she should be better in a few days. Is it alright if we stay here for that long?" he asked her in a soft voice.

Kagome sighed and nodded. "It's alright." She answered and then sat on the edge of the bed moving the slightly sweaty hair out of Kisa's face. She looked at Hatori. "So… is this what your family tries so hard to hide." She moved away from Kisa and almost gave a bitter laugh. "If that is all, you have no idea what the world really hides."

"What do you mean?" Hatori demanded. He didn't know what she honestly meant. Were there… other things besides their curse? Right… he should have realised that if this curse existed there were bound to be others. Did she know of them? Or did she have one?

She raised an eyebrow and sighed. "I'm not saying your curse isn't bad, per say. I mean you turn into animals with whatever triggers it… what triggers it by the way?" she asked in pure curiosity.

Hatori looked at her, and then back at Kisa, "I suppose I can tell you since you have already seen Kisa in her tiger form. We turn into animals when we are either weak in health or get hugged by the opposite sex. However members from the zodiac can hug each other, even if they are the opposite sex."

"So not even family members?"

Hatori shook his head. "Not even family members can hug us. When we are born, we're born premature and the parents would either totally reject them, heart and body, or be over protective of them."

"Oh, that's pretty bad…" she said thinking thoughtfully, "But it's not that bad since you could gain friends within the same gender and have nothing to worry about. However," She frowned, "There are some… beings that will gain no friends because of their background and sometimes even the family would reject them." She sighed. "One would be lucky if they grew up with a family that simply didn't care about that and cared for them."

"You speak as if it's from experience." Hatori stated.

She smiled ruefully at him. "Yes, but not my experience."

Silence stretched into the room. Only the slightly laboured breaths of the sick young girl in the bed. Kagome grimaced. Poor girl. They should've spent less time talking and more time healing. No worries, she's going to heal her anyway, only taking a little longer than what would have been.

Kagome sighed. "Your room is the one near the door with a symbolised phoenix on it. And before you ask," she said remembering how the maid acted when she said 'room near the phoenix', "There's nothing special about that room. The maid just overreacted is all."

Hatori nodded. "Okay." He answered, although he was suspicious.

-:-U-:-

Rin looked at the man nervously. "You want to me to what?" She asked him. The last time they had met, it was a month ago and the man before hadn't told her what he wanted to do for her. Just simply satisfied with the fact that she _had_ agreed to help him on the terms that he break the curse and just left leaving her to wonder what he was up to.

And now he was back with the most ridiculous terms ever. "Yes, you heard me correctly." He stated.

"In order for us to get you to get rid of this curse, you want _me_ to befriend this girl named, Kagome." She stated incredulously. "I'm guessing that won't be all, would it?" she stated dryly.

The man smiled, but the smile seemed far too creepy to be considered that his thoughts were innocent at the moment. "Ever the observant one, aren't you." He more stated than asked. "Yes, there is more to that, but I will tell you later. It's best that I'll tell you little by little, rather than all at once."

"Otherwise I won't like it right," she said dryly, knowing that she was right.

He smirked. "What a smart girl you are." He said with a hint of amusement. "Anyway Rin darling," he said with a smirk as a black hole appeared behind him, "_Do not fail me_."

Rin felt as if her heart stopped as he went through the now disappeared black hole. His voice was so dark and scary with those last parting words that she thought she'd never been this frightened, even with Akito, the head of their curse.

She looked at the door of the room as she wobbly got up and walked towards it. _Looks like I have no choice but to find this Kagome person_, she thought to herself as a shadow crossed her face and left the room.

In the distance an evil laugh was heard.

-:-U-:-

Dinner was quiet, only the sound of chopsticks hitting the plate and slurping noises of food entering the mouth. It was only Kagome and Hatori in the dining room for the rest had either gone home, to work or went to check on friends in the feudal era.

The silence was quite uncomfortable. She sighed and looked at Hatori who was eating in obvious silence. He eyes wondered to the left side of his face. "Hatori-san," she said as he looked up at her. "I was wondering…" she stopped her question as his inquisitive stare was on her and she decided to change what she was going to say and gave a half-hearted smile, "Hatori, have you contacted Shigure and the others. I'm sure they're pretty worried now."

"Ah, I forgot with all the commotion. Thanks for reminding me Kagome-san. Do you mind if I go use the phone now?" He asked and she nodded. "Thanks." He said getting up. He blinked, realising he didn't know exactly where he was going. "Uhm, where…?" he began.

Understanding what he meant, she smiled and pointed to the door on the left hand side with her chopsticks. "That room. The phone should be on a small table in the corner."

He smiled slightly. "Thanks." He walked through the door and searched around the room and seeing the small table and the phone on top of it. As one would do with the intention of using the phone, he dialled Shigure's number and while waiting for the dog to answer Hatori's eyes roamed around the room. His eyes paused on a photo and since the phone he was on was cordless he was able to walk up to it. It was an odd picture. He was sure the girl was Kagome, and there seemed to be a monk in purple and a girl who had a large boomerang on her back. But that's not what he found odd. It was the little kid with a fox-like look and a tail, and the angry boy with ears on top of his head that looked a lot like Inuyasha.

A voice distracted his observations as Shigure had finally answered. "_Hello?_" Hatori thought he sounded really distressed.

"Shigure, It's Hatori—" He couldn't say anymore than that before Shigure interrupted.

"_Ha-kun! Is it really? What happened? Where's Kisa?"_ Shigure's frantic voice came through, which caused Hatori to sigh.

"She's ok. We're at Kagome's now until Kisa is better. Best not to move her in this fever." Hatori said. "Although, the problem is that Kagome found Kisa in her tiger form and there was no way I could keep the family secret from her this time."

"_Why didn't you erase her memories?"_

"I couldn't erase it. Not only did she say she was immune to it, there were also her friends, Inuyasha, Shippou and others that seemed to have witnessed it and what's really odd was that they seemed unfazed by the entire event like it was a normal occurrence."

"And here I thought you were making a simple call," a female voice said and Hatori turned abruptly to see Kagome leaning on the doorframe, "But, _no_, your reporting your findings to Shigure. I was wondering what was taking you a while."

"Ah… Kagome…" Suddenly Hatori felt guilty, but he wasn't sure why. It wasn't like he was betraying anyone, right? "Uhm, Shigure, I have to go now. We should be back once Kisa is better." He said into the receiver and then hung up before Shigure could say a word and put the phone away.

"Why'd you stop?" Kagome said in a dry tone. "You could've continued your conversation and ignore the fact I'm here."

Hatori looked at Kagome and then sighed. "Sorry, I did not mean it to look that way."

She stalked up to him and pulled him so that his face was only inches apart. "Oh? And so what was it meant to be?" She slowly drawled out. Her eyes flashed with predatory gleam.

Hatori gulped. The only other girl he had been this close to him was Kanna. He tried to pull away, but her grip was strong and he was sure that if he stayed in the position any longer, he might do something he might regret. Kagome's eyes were drawing him in, in a way he knew it shouldn't, especially with a high school student.

Seeing this, Kagome decided to play cruel and pulled him closer so that only their breaths were mingling. "Don't you want to answer, _Hatori-san?_" she asked, a slow smirk forming.

"I…"

Suddenly the bell of her house was rung, startling them that Hatori managed to pull apart with a small blush staining both their cheeks. After a bit, a maid came in. "Kagome-sama," she said bowing, "There's a girl named Rin at the door. She said she wanted to talk to you."

"Rin?" she asked. The only other Rin she knew of was the one in the feudal era. "It's not Sesshoumaru's ward, is it? Because that seems quite impossible."

"No, Kagome-sama."

Kagome sighed, rubbing the back of the neck. "Okay, let her in." She turned to Hatori as the maid did as she bid. "You can go to your room or check on Kisa. In the meanwhile, I'll just see why this person wants to see me."

Hatori nodded and eager (but not showing it) to get out of there, he went to Kisa's room to check her temperature and give her medication just before he went to his room.

Kagome on the other hand showed the girl about her age to the living room. When they took their seats, Kagome smiled softly at Rin. "I assume you're another Sohma?" she asked, suddenly sensing the horse in Rin. The startled look on Rin's gave her answer right away. She sighed. Sohma's were everywhere. She looked Rin in the eye.

"So, what, dearest Rin, is the reason of your visit?"

* * *

**_Again, I hope this chapter's alright. Had to do it in the intervals of my homework, school and work so I hadn't had much spare time to look over it properly._**

**_Please review!_**

**_-SxT _**


	8. Demons

**_Haha, I have nothing to say, but 'hey, look, finally an update.'  


* * *

Chapter eight: Demons_**

Purple eyes stared absently out the window. Tonight, he will test Kagome. It was time he did something. It wouldn't be fun when it was time and she was completely unaware that she'd die so easily. Kagome, friend of the half-breed, slayer and monk, along with a few full demons.

He smirked to himself, knowing that Rin would probably be friends with the miko now. Although he knew she had declared cutting all ties with the Sohma's and her cousin, she had a soft heart, thus she wouldn't just tell someone to go away, unless someone was there to back her up. Like when she was with Akito and Sesshoumaru had announced for her that she'd cut all ties with them.

But of course, helping Kisa and allowing Hatori to stay in her household proved that she had liabilities. It would be easy to get to her. Perhaps if they met in person, she wouldn't even know that _he_ himself was the enemy.

It would be easy prey and also fun to mess around with. He heard the door open and he didn't bother turning around to see whom it was.

"My Lord," a male voice echoed in the room, "You summoned me?"

A slow smirk made its way to his features as he turned around to his subordinate. "Yes, there's something I want you to do tonight, but do be careful and do not fail me."

-:-U-:-

Kagome and Rin stared at each other in a tense silence. Rin could feel a prickling sensation at the back of her neck as she thought of how to answer. Really, she just knew that she had to be friends, but didn't know how to go about it and Rin had heard about this girl's last meeting with Akito. And now that she remembered, she thought it would be suspicious for her to be suddenly here.

"Well?" Kagome's voice struck through her thoughts, reminding Rin that she was waiting on an answer.

Rin gave her a hesitant smile. She was stuck and she knew it. She gave a sigh, unable to take her acting of playing shy, nice girl and stared at Kagome with a blank look. "No reason really," Rin said, "Just came to see what was so special about you. I've heard about you from the others."

"Hmm?" Kagome looked over at Rin as if contemplating the answer before a smile broke free, startling Rin. "Now, I knew the shy, hesitant girl was all an act. Sorry to say, but you don't seem the type."

"… I see."

Kagome leaned back in her chair lazily. "Yeah, news in your kind of family must travel around quick." Kagome eyed Rin a little bit wary, "Especially if they know about the curse. Tell me honestly, did Akito send you?"

Rin was surprised to hear that. She knew about the curse? As far as she knew, Kagome didn't know anything. "…No," she said honestly confused, "I just… wanted to meet you. You know of the curse?"

Kagome smiled at her. "Ah, you didn't know I knew then? Yes, I found out recently," Kagome smiled as a maid came in and put tea and snacks in front of them. "Thank you," she said to the maid and looked back at Rin, "You know, I used to know of a girl named Rin. She was a happy, go-lucky girl, even if she didn't live in the best environment for one her age."

Rin nodded. She wasn't surprised. Rin was a common name, so it was possible for the teen before her to have known a person or two with the same name as hers. She was a little guilty. She had no idea what he was planning when he sent her out here to 'befriend' Kagome. She had a feeling it was something she wouldn't like.

Kagome saw the grimace. "What's wrong?"

That snapped her out of her slightly morbid thoughts that had her feeling down, "Ah, it's nothing really," Rin said, "I was wondering how you found out about the curse. I hardly think that someone just upped and told you about us."

Kagome smiled. "Interesting story, that one," she said as she leaned back and got more comfortable in her chair, "Can't say I wasn't surprised. It was when Hatori-kun followed me into the forest, somehow or another he managed to get knocked out and I found him lying there and decided to carry him back to Shigure-kun's house," she smirked as she saw Rin's eyes widen. "It was the way Shigure-kun acted and Hatori-kun, as he woke, acted that almost gave it away that was a curse." She held up a hand to stop Rin from asking questions, "No he did not turn into an animal, like he would usually.

"The next time it was given away and I had an idea there was a curse, only had no idea _what_ it did or _how_ it was triggered was when I was called into the Sohma by Akito. To say the least, Akito was not very… happy that I did not have an inkling of what the curse held or how it was triggered. Sesshoumaru, my brother-like friend, came flying in and announced to Akito that we were cutting ties with everyone from the Sohma family, even if that meant I could not meet my cousin Tohru." Kagome smiled at Rin's shocked look.

"It wasn't until today, a month after that last incident with Akito that I found out what the curse did or how it was even triggered. I had found a sick tiger in the park," recognition of who the tiger was showed in Rin's face, "Hatori, who had been watching me for the month under, what I assumed, Akito's orders tried to get Kisa back, but of course, I refused t leave the sick tiger alone and when I arrived home, Kisa turned into a human and Hatori explained to me the curse and how it was triggered."

"Oh," was the only thing that seemed able to come out of Rin's mouth and Kagome understood why she was speechless. Eventually she asked, "How is it you can hug the guys without them transforming?"

Kagome sighed and sat up straighter from her comfy position. "I cannot say it is for all the guys, after all, the only one I have held was Hatori-kun. So, I can understand why everyone is in a frenzy since this is something unusual, but I cannot say for sure the reason why I can hold him." _Except that I'm a demon,_ she said quietly in her head.

Rin nodded slowly as if in thought and Kagome stood up, making Rin look at her, "If that is all?"

"Ah yeah," Rin said standing up and bowing, "Thank you for speaking with me, even when I came with no warning whatsoever."

Kagome gave her a slight smile, "It's okay, although I do appreciate if you'd give me some warning next time," Kagome went to the small table that held the phone and grabbed a piece of paper and wrote something on it, then handing it to Rin, "Here's my number. I'm sorry to cut this visit short, but I do have other things to do today."

Rin nodded, understanding. Kagome knew she was rushing Rin out, but Kagome could feel a demonic aura headed in their direction and one she was not familiar with at all. She could not risk Rin in danger. She could feel it was still far, but it was still headed towards her, and she'd rather confront it than put Hatori and Kisa in danger who could not be removed from the house whilst still sick.

Kagome smiled at Rin as she made her farewell and left the house. When she was sure Rin was gone, Kagome told the maid to inform Hatori that she would be gone for a while, before she left the house. Luckily Sesshoumaru had owned a lot of the surrounding area and could be far enough from civilisation to fight the demon in full power if she had to.

When the demon came into view, she had not expected a demon that looked like a human child. His cheeks were chubby, had big round grey eyes and black hair and he wore a navy blue hakama. Although he looked adorable, he held no expressions, which Kagome found disturbing on a face so young, and she could feel the malevolent aura held inside the tiny body.

The boy was possessed then?

Kagome was unsure, but before she could say anything, the boy's eyes locked with hers and he spoke. "You are the miko, Kagome-sama?" Kagome nodded, never letting down her guard, "My master sent me to take the Shikon jewel. Will you give it to me?"

The voice sounded too innocent, but Kagome knew not to be fooled. Kagome barred her fangs at the child, a defensive measure to show he was not fooling her, "Who are you child? And who the hell are you working for? The Shikon Jewel will not be handled by a child like yourself."

"You leave me no choice," the boy said and Kagome could feel the spike in energy, "I am not allowed to fail in my assignment."

Kagome jumped away just in time as the patch she was standing on crumbled down. Then looked at the boy just in time as he spread out his arms and blasts of wind came at her, dodging two out of three. She hissed in pain, knowing she had underestimated his power subconsciously because of his appearance.

_Earth and wind_, she thought to herself as she saw his powers. Unable to have time to take out her bow and arrows because of the constant attacks, she took out her whip (courtesy of Sesshoumaru's training) and flicked it towards the boy, who in turn jumped away.

She glared. This was going to be harder than she thought.

-:-U-:-

Something did not feel right. Even though it seemed that nothing had changed in the house, the air itself seemed different. Shigure frowned. He had gone home after a call from Hatori, glad that Kisa was safe. Tohru returned to her daily chores she liked doing around the house. Yuki and Kyou went their separate ways so they wouldn't argue, but even now, those two seemed like they could feel the change in the air.

Something was definitely not right.

And he felt very uneasy not knowing what that something was, but he knew with some possibility that it was probably to do something with Tohru's cousin.

Hatori had given him a recount of what happened after the meeting with Akito. Why Sesshoumaru was even there was a mystery to everyone who knew, and the sudden cutting of ties with her cousin and the Sohma family…

He had not told Tohru, letting the poor girl believe that Kagome was sick and would visit them when she got better. She had wanted to visit Kagome herself, but he had stopped her, not sure how Kagome's coldness might affect the young innocent girl.

And Hatori. What was Akito thinking sending him to do such a mission? He felt sorry for Hatori. He could tell he liked the girl. Of course it wasn't love yet. They had just met each other after all. There was only attraction, but there was a chance where it could develop into that.

But Akito was ruining it all. The bitter girl never liked anything that didn't go her way. She didn't understand why it had to be her with the short life span, and thus ruins the lives of the rest of the zodiacs. He cared for her. He really did. But it was hard to with the way she treated everyone.

Shigure shifted in his seat and looked out the window. He just wished he knew why he was feeling uneasy at the moment. He heard a knock sound at the door and Tohru running to get it.

Shigure got up to see who it was and when he did, he wasn't the only one surprised.

-:-U-:-

Kagome limped back the house, injuries all over the place. She coughed up blood, but she wasn't in a fatal state yet. Nothing her demonic and miko healing couldn't fix, just that these wounds would take longer than usual to heal. Why was another question altogether.

Her vision was swimming and she briefly wondered if there was some kind of poison or weird kind of youki that the boy infused into his attacks that she wasn't healing up to her usual speed and the fact she seemed to be teetering on the edge of consciousness.

"Kagome-sama!" she heard someone exclaim. Probably a maid… Everything was starting to blur and go dark.

God, everything hurt and her senses were screaming. Attack! She needed to protect herself. She couldn't deal with this. Where was Inuyasha or Sesshoumaru when she needed them? She felt arms encircle her. Something about the person's aura stopped her from attacking this person. His aura encircled hers making her feel safe. She could rest now. She could heal.

"_Why are you doing this?" Kagome yelled at the boy, hoping to get answers before she'd accidentally kill him. The boy was too strong and with a sinking feeling she had thought if this boy was strong, his master was stronger. What was it with demons and this Godforsaken jewel? Must she suffer with the jewel's curse her whole life? Until she grew old and died?_

"_These are words from my master," the boy said, of course, he was also injured, gashes and bruises etched onto his tiny body and although the injuries looked painful, his face remained expressionless, "I am only a small percentage of his power. If you don't give the jewel over soon, we will hunt your loved ones down until you're all alone."_

_Kagome gritted her teeth as he bowed and disappeared in a whirl of dirt and wind. What was she going to do now? She had to tell Sesshoumaru. This still gave her no idea on who it was after the jewel._

_**We will hunt your loved ones down until you're all alone…**_

Kagome gasped as she woke up in cold sweat. Her body was stiff, but no longer in unbelievable pain. She groaned as she pushed herself into a seated position, he muscles protesting at the movement. She was in her room and by the looks of the position of the moon from her window it must be somewhere past midnight.

A small movement caught the corner of her eye and what she saw surprised her. Hatori was asleep in a chair beside her bed. He looked really uncomfortable. And by the looks of the items on the floor, it seemed that he was the one bandaging her wounds and injuries from battle.

She looked at Hatori's face, which seemed to be contorted in pain, the pale moonlight making him seem somewhat forbidden. She stretched her hand to move some of his bangs, when she saw her claws. Her eyes widened when she realized she was still in her demon form. What should she do now? Did he think any differently from what he usually thought of her?

"You've been asleep for almost a day," a soft voice said from the other side of the room and Kagome looked up to see Shippou standing by the door, "You gave us all quite a scare. I hear that it was only Hatori-san that seemed like the only person who could calm you when you had entered the household. You attacked quite a few maids."

"Oh God," Kagome covered her face in shame, transforming back into her human form. "I just remembering being in a lot of pain when I returned."

"Kagome…"

"Does Hatori-san know that I'm a demon now?" she whispered, trying not to wake the sleeping sea dragon.

"Well, yeah. After coming home like that… Do you want to erase his memories?"

Kagome shook her head. "I can't. Not so soon after the previous time I deleted it. What do I do now?"

Shippou sighed and walked towards Kagome, giving her a hug, careful not to knock Hatori from his seat. "For now, rest. You must tell everyone what happened tomorrow. We'll deal with Hatori-san then. I'll take him to his room."

Kagome nodded and laid back down, ashamed. She was still far too new to being a demon. To think she could handle that demon by herself… She should have called Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, or anyone to be with her just in case. She was still so new… what if she had killed a maid.

"Oh God," she mumbled, now alone in her room. What was she going to do now? This enemy seemed to be stronger than Naraku ever was.

_**We will hunt your loved ones down until you're all alone…**_

* * *

**_Sorry, guys if its not that great. it's been two years(?) since I last updated this story, but people have still been reading it even after how long I haven't updated. Sorry for the late update. First excuse was VCE, my second excuse is now Uni and Japanese club activities (I'm president of the Japanese club at Uni)._**

**_Sorry if my writing style seems different (Does it seem different?) It has been two years since I've updated this story XD. Anyways, I hope it's still good._**

**_Cheerios,_**

**_SxT  
_**


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